Old Copper Pipes

The water turned a shade brown and it has small flakes of soil that has circled around the top of the water. Smells a little dirty.

The article “How Tap Water Became Toxic in Flint, Michigan” By Sara Ganim and Linh Tran talks about the toxicity in the tap water from Flint, Michigan. In the article it is described that the levels of led in Flint's’ water system was because there was a corrosive agent in the water that was taking led off the pipes and putting it into the drinking water. The start of everything happened when Flint stopped paying Detroit for water and switched to a temporary source until they could build their own pipe to lake Huron. The temporary water source that they switched to was the Flint river. The water in the Flint river is 19 times more corrosive than the water from the lake Huron. Pipes that carried the water were not used to the level of corrosion

Directly following the switchover, residents noticed an immediate change to the water quality. After months of using the Flint River waters people began getting sick. Some of the diseases included lead poisoning, legionellosis, and summer pneumonia. All of these illnesses

Copper is a naturally occurring element that can be found in all plants and animals. A certain amount of copper is necessary for health, and the human body has developed a way to maintain the proper level of copper in it (Minnesota). Even so, large concentrations of copper, and general long-term exposure, can have a negative impact on the body. Symptoms include stomachaches, vomiting, diarrhea, liver and kidney damage, and even death (Lenntech). Exposure to copper comes from many areas, but the most common one is through the water. Copper is commonly found in plumbing pipes, which can lead to high levels of copper in drinking water and fresh water sources due to erosion. Lakes and streams are also treated with copper to prevent algae overgrowth (Group).

The more polluted a water source is, the more processing required to make the water safe to drink. Most of the contaminants now in Flint’s drinking water were introduced during or after processing. For all drinking water, the first concern is bacteria, which can cause diseases like hepatitis, Legionnaire’s disease, and other illnesses. Because Flint’s river water had high levels of bacteria, it was treated with additional chlorine. Chlorine reacts with organic material in the water to produce carcinogenic byproducts such as trihalomethanes; it also makes water more acidic, which corrodes pipes. Federal law mandates adding anti-corrosive agents to drinking water in large cities; this standard water treatment practice was not followed (Carmody, 2016). The water created issues with lead due to its high acidity. Water service connections have been made for years using lead piping primarily in the 1920s and 1930s. The acidic water corroded the old lead pipes and lead seeped into the water. Lead poisoning is the most widespread and serious health problem associated with Flint’s drinking water; children with prolonged exposure to lead experience a range of developmental problems that are incurable. Flint’s water-treatment staff were not able to successfully make Flint River water safe to drink. Whether this is because they were undertrained, understaffed, or simply made a decision not to invest scarce

For 50 years, Flint bought water from Detroit, which legitimately treated the water with orthophosphate, a concoction that basically covered the funnels as water moved through them, keeping lead from filtering into the water supply. This is what the procedure looked like at that point. Flint changed from Detroit's water supply to the Flint River in 2014, to a limited extent to spare cash. Be that as it may, the city did not utilize erosion control to keep lead from entering the water. The waterway itself was additionally found to contain eight times more chloride than Detroit's water, a compound that is profoundly destructive to metals. Most inhabitants in Flint have decades-old lead benefit lines that associate their homes to the city's primary water funnels. At the point when water from the stream coursed through those channels, it destroyed their inner parts, enabling lead to enter the supply. When Flint exchanged its water supply, most Flint inhabitants knew it quickly. Inhabitants depicted the water originating from their taps frequently as an earthy yellow and said it both noticed and tasted odd. It was later found that the water was conveying huge measures of lead, which can demonstrate particularly harming to youngsters. In October 2015, the city changed back to the Detroit water supply, yet Flint's water is still regarded risky to drink.

Would you drink, and bathe in the water coming out of that tap? The word no is what every sensible human would say when seeing this orange colored liquid. Unfortunately, residents in Flint Michigan are having toxic water like that, running through their pipes and there is one major problem... It’s too late to fix it. How did this happen? How poisonous is the water and what are the effects of it?

To complete the research a scientist went out to the Delaware River three different times at 6 different locations (Shi, Allen & Grassi, 1998). He collected the water and brought it back to the lab to be tested (Shi et al., 1998). The research method that was used was sampling and collecting data to see if the river has a high rate of copper in it (Shi et al., 1998). The results of the journal were also conclusive. Data was shown that when the water went through treatment plants or through sewers the water would come out with more copper than without going through these places (Shi et al., 1998). In the long run, the water is safe depending on where and when you collect the water for use (Shi et al.,

In April of 2014 Flint, Michigan started to get their water from the Flint River rather than the Detroit river that was formerly used as the main water source in hopes of saving money. The water being provided has been classified by Flint residents as smelly and murky and is avoided at all costs. It has also been discovered to cause damage to the lead pipes that transported it throughout the city. Children have been found to have high levels of lead in their blood and this may be the cause of an outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease which has killed 10 people in the Flint area. People have also reported rashes from the dirty water. Video news interviews show residents holding water that is

However, if your water came from sewage backup, an overflowing toilet or a natural disaster, the water causing havoc in your home is likely contaminated.

In Flint, Michigan, people have been getting ill. What could be the cause of these illnesses? The cause is that they do not have a clean water supply, which is very dangerous to the population and the environment.

We understand that there was change with this shared experience with Walters “On a chilly evening last March in Flint, Michigan, LeeAnne Walters was getting ready for bed when she heard her daughter shriek from the bathroom” (Lurie). This comes to show an abnormality with the water that must have never been there before. Lead pipes have to meet certain requirements to be used safely “When water chemistry is carefully controlled, it prevents dangerous levels of lead from entering the drinking water system from the pipes.” (Lead in Plumbing). The Flint river water chemistry was not carefully controlled with no anti-corrosion filters and damaged ALL lead pipes during the

The water supply was officially switched in April of 2014, and shortly after, residents began to complain about the smell and color of their water. Months after resident’s complaints were essentially ignored, E. coli and coliform bacteria were detected in the water (NPR, 2016). Residents were advised to boil their water until pipes were flushed and water was treated with chlorine. The exact same scenario occurred for a second time in September.

It can cause different side effects that can poison and make water uncontrollable to drink. To understand how serious this can be, one must know the seriousness these side effects can have on victims. Lead is a heavy metal, It contains a series of issues that can cause very threatening side effects. For instance, loss of appetite, weight loss, vomiting, stomach pain, and brain damage. Ingesting chlorine is threatening because it could cause burning in the mouth, swelling of the throat, throat pain, stomach pain, vomiting and blood in the stools. These are all causes for concern that can make someone hospitalized. Considering the water is contaminated by chlorine and lead this will be very difficult for the people of Flint because now they have no choice, but to boil their water to extract all the chemicals that’s inside it. As a result, roughly 8,600 children under the age of six in Flint are enduring lead

Galvanized pipe is steel pipe still found in numerous older homes. Originally coated with zinc to prevent corrosion, over time the zinc erodes leaving the steel to rust from the inside out. Exposure to hard water, water with a heavy mineral presence, can accelerate the process. Eventually, due to the presence of rust, corrosion and the clogging due to minerals, water may be discolored, have an unpleasant taste, and