The Michigan Department of
Environmental Quality failed to ensure the water was treated for its
corrosiveness.
The Flint River water turned out to be
more corrosive than the water Flint received from Detroit -- so corrosive, in
fact, that in October 2014, General Motors opted toquit
using it to avoid
corroding parts in its engine plant. Corrosiveness is a problem because Flint,
like many American cities, has water pipes that are made from lead, which can
leach into the water and poison people who drink it.
Back in 2011, Flint had commissioned
an evaluation of Flint River water, the results of which indicated it would
need to be treated with phosphates to reduce its corrosiveness. Two years
later, according
to the Detroit Free Press, a Flint official forwarded that
information to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, which is
responsible for ensuring that Flint follows the federal Safe Drinking Water
Act. But the MDEQ didn't do its job.
As Miguel Del Toral, an expert with
the Environmental Protection Agency who was investigating local complaints
about the water, explained in a June 2015 memo: "Recent drinking water
sample results indicate the presence of high lead results in the drinking
water, which is to be expected in a public water system that is not providing
corrosion control treatment. The lack of any mitigating treatment for lead is
of serious concern for residents that live in homes with lead service lines or
partial lead service lines, which are common throughout the City of
Flint."
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