Americans were shocked to find out that citizens in their own country were drinking unsafe water in Flint, Michigan due to high levels of lead. Even more shocking? More than 3,000 communities across the United States, totalling over 12.5 million people, report double the rate of lead poisoning that was found in Flint.
What happened in Flint?
The crisis in Flint began in 2014 when the city switched its water supply to receive water from the Flint River. An investigation done a year later showed that 4-5% of Flint children had high levels of lead in their blood. The lead came directly from drinking water sourced from the Flint River. Upon discovery, residents turned to bottled water, donated from around the country, until their water supply was deemed safe. Once residents returned to the Detroit water system, lead levels decreased dramatically.
After public outcry and international attention on the Flint water crisis, the United States Congress directed $170 million in aid to the struggling town. This helped expedite their switch to the safe Detroit water system and away from their contaminated Flint River water supply. However, $170 million is ten times the annual budget the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has to handle lead poisoning cases across the country. Unfortunately, it won’t be enough to really help the millions of Americans facing the same fate, or much worse, than Flint residents.
Other cases of lead poisoning
Reuters conducted an investigative study to find other neighborhoods and communities around the United States that were vulnerable to lead poisoning and high levels of lead exposure. High levels of lead were defined as any results showing five micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood. This is the same definition the Center for Disease Control and Prevention uses when they speak about elevated lead levels. The Reuters study discovered a shocking number of vulnerable areas, many of which were facing much worse lead crises than Flint ever did.
In 1,100 communities, residents had lead blood level rates four times higher than those found in Flint, Michigan. Areas in Baltimore, Cleveland and Philadelphia saw an increase of 40-50% in lead levels from 2005 rates. Two thousand six hundred and six census tracts and 278 zip code areas were discovered to have lead poisoning rates double Flint levels. While the found results are appalling, the study by Reuters is not even the entire picture. Many states do not have data on lead levels and children go untested, so the state of lead poisoning across America could be even worse than what was found in this study.
What happens when we’re exposed to lead?
Lead is a heavy metal neurotoxin and extended exposure to high levels can be very dangerous. Lead exposure can cause anemia, hypertension, kidney impairment, and damage to reproductive organs. High levels of lead have also been known to increase the onset of comas, convulsions, and even be fatal in some cases.
High levels of lead in the blood in children is of particular concern. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that four million children across America are exposed to high levels of lead. Children with lead poisoning like this can experience unpleasant symptoms like chronic headaches or stomachaches. They may also develop irreversible neurological and behavioral disorders like ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder). Extended lead exposure has also been linked to dramatic decreases in IQ scores and increased rates of violent crime.
What causes this exposure?
The majority of lead poisoning, in Flint and in other infected areas in the United States, is caused by high lead levels found in drinking water. In the 1970s, the United States government mandated that lead begin to be phased out of paint and gasoline. Thanks to this mandate, blood lead levels in children decreased by 90%. Unfortunately, leftover remnants from this clean up project have found their way into many rural and urban water supplies. Water is also being tarnished by plumbing and industrial waste that contains high levels of lead. Many water supplies are not equipped to efficiently remove these toxins from the water before it reaches the homes and mouths of residents. As many of the symptoms of lead poisoning look similar to other chronic illnesses, it’s hard to pinpoint when lead poisoning has occurred. And sometimes once the discovery is made, it’s too late for some residents who have been sick for years.