Abstract
Abstract
Under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager, City of Flint residents were disconnected from the Detroit Water and Sewage Department (DWSD) and began drawing water from the Flint River for almost 18 months. This switch was met with opposition from residents who claimed that the water from the Flint River was unsafe. After concerns were confirmed by independent researchers and the Flint water crisis became a topic of national debate, City of Flint and state-level officials chose to switch back to the DWSD and vowed to repair the damage caused by regulatory neglect. In this article, I explore additional factors that might have contributed to the water crisis in Flint, namely the conditions of the plumbing within Flint Community Schools and the corrosive nature of the water before the water source switch in 2014. Based on evidence from City of Flint Water Department audits and recent Lead and Copper Rule compliance data from Flint Community Schools inspection reports, I found that the children of Flint were at-risk of consuming lead-contaminated water years before this crisis received public attention. As noted in this article, problems with lead in the drinking water in schools were profoundly motivated by the persistent use of lead plumbing parts within Flint schools. In addition, elevated blood lead levels among the children of Flint have been likely influenced by Flint's ongoing, but silent, concern: its corrosive water and the effect it had on the city's water distribution system.
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