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Elevated Blood Lead Levels in Flint, Michigan



Details

  • Corporate Authors:
    Michigan State University. College of Human Medicine
  • Description:
    The news media has actively covered the story about the quality of the drinking water in Flint after the city switched the source of its drinking water on April 25, 2014 from Lake Huron to the Flint River to save money. A recently published paper (12/21/2015) in the American Journal of Public Health (Am J Pub Health) from Dr. Hanna-Attisha and colleagues at Hurley Children's Hospital and Michigan State University provides a peer-reviewed analysis of the extent to which children's blood lead levels increased after the water source change. Initially after the switch in the source of drinking water, residents of Flint expressed concerns about the appearance, odor and taste of the water. In response to the identification of elevated bacterial contamination (fall 2014), increased chlorination was initiated which caused elevated levels of chlorine byproducts (trihalomethanes). Results released August 31, 2015 identified elevated lead levels in the water. Recognition that not only the water levels of lead were above the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) standard of 15 parts per billion (ppb) but that the blood lead levels of children in Flint had increased after the change in water source led to the emergency reconnection of the City of Flint water supply to the Detroit Water and Sewage Department's Lake Huron water source on October 16, 2015. The source of the lead in the City of Flint drinking water was not the Flint River but rather the lead in the pipes and solder in the City of Flint's water infrastructure. Because of the higher chloride and higher chloride-to-sulfide mass ratio, the Flint River water was more corrosive. The increased corrosiveness coupled with the failure to add a phosphate corrosive inhibitor to the water system after the switch in the water source caused the release of lead from the pipes and solder in the City of Flint's water infrastructure into its drinking water. [Description provided by NIOSH]
  • Subjects:
  • Keywords:
  • Publisher:
    Michigan State University-College of Human Medicine
  • Document Type:
    Text
  • Funding:
    Cooperative Agreement
  • Genre:
    Newsletter
  • Place as Subject:
  • CIO:
    National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
  • Topic:
    Workplace Safety & Health
  • Location:
    North America
  • Pages in Document:
    1-4
  • Volume:
    27
  • Issue:
    2
  • NIOSHTIC Number:
    nn:20054646
  • Citation:
    Project S.E.N.S.O.R. News 2016 Jan; 27(2):1-4
  • Contact Point Address:
    MSU-CHM, 117 West Fee Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824-1316
  • CAS Registry Number:
    Lead (CAS RN 7439-92-1)
  • Federal Fiscal Year:
    2016
  • Performing Organization:
    Michigan State University
  • Peer Reviewed:
    False
  • Start Date:
    20050701
  • Source Full Name:
    Project S.E.N.S.O.R. News
  • End Date:
    20260630
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:74fb10f9d4bd442aee23483bb38df0aa2d82b74c4aa96e6e19614bfd05b2f0efb9f2486103e8d3509b2ec8d69835b7283a51285737f123fbd583574d27cad160
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 86.00 KB ]
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