The FlintWaterStudy Team Undergraduate Students: Madeleine Brouse, Margaret Carolan, Sara Chergaoui, Matthew Dowdle, Kim Hughes, Rebecca Jones, Alison Vick Graduate Students: Christina Devine, Emily Garner, Catherine Grey, Pan Ji, Anurag Mantha, Rebekah Martin, Jake Metch, Victoria Nystrom, Colin Richards, William Rhoads, Siddhartha Roy, Laurel Strom, Owen Strom, Min Tang, Ni “Joyce” Zhu Post-docs/Research Scientists:Drs. Brandi Clark, Dongjuan Dai, Sheldon Masters, Jeffrey Parks, Kelsey Pieper, David “Otto” Schwake, Fei Wang Principal Investigators: Dr. Marc Edwards, Dr. Amy Pruden, Dr. Joseph Falkinham III

NSF grant #1135328

Bridging the Gap Between Engineers and Society: Learning to Listen

Dr. Yanna Lambrinidou and Dr. Marc Edwards

B.F. = Before FlintWaterStudy

William Rhoads

Where it all began

1950s-1960s 1980s-present

The Flint Journal, from http://www.teardownbook.com/photos/ http://www.plan59.com/photos/buickcity.htm

No Lead

Lead Pipe

Lead Solder

Lead In Brass

Graphic Adapted from: http://www.clevelandwater.com/customer-service/protect-your-home/home-tips

Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) Responsibility

Due to Flint River water chemistry

For Lead Release

Sam Owens/AP

Regina H. Boone—Detroit Free Press/ZumaPress

Sephia8 – mlive.com

Abayomi Azikiwe

RYAN GARZA/AP

On average, 133X more

Worst case, 867X more

“A major concern from a public health standpoint is the absence of corrosion control treatment in

the City of Flint”

The Daily Mail/AP

Lead, lead everywhere! Christina Devine

We are in this together! Citizen Science et al.

Maggie Carolan Anurag Mantha

FlintWaterStudy Launch

• Website launched late August

• Purpose: • Inform Flint residents about water quality issues

• Bring public awareness

August 13, 2015

Romain Blanquart / Detroit Free Press

Getty Images

For 271 samples:

90th Percentile for First Draw: 26.8 ppb

(EPA Action Level = 15 ppb)

Highest First Draw: 158 ppb

Highest overall: 1051 ppb

Lead Corrosion Experiment

Flint Detroit

Lead Corrosion Experiment

Ms. Weiss’ class at City School, Grand Blanc, MI

Flint water was always

MORE corrosive than

Detroit water

Observations

Drew: “…Flint water is

DISGUSTING!”

Ridley: “Flint = SNOW GLOBE”

Sophia: “…the Flint

water looks bad and

unhealthy to drink…”

“Flint looks like a snow globe and Detroit looks like nothing barely

happened” -Caroline

Iron Corrosion Experiment

Set up:

Iron Corrosion Experiment

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Fre

e C

hlo

rin

e (

mg

/L)

Time (Hr.)

Iron Corrosion Experiment Continued

Town Hall Meeting

Response from Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ)

“This group specializes in looking for high lead problems. They pull the rabbit out of that hat everywhere they go. Nobody should be surprised when the rabbit comes out of the hat, even if they can’t figure out how it is done”

-Brad Wurfel

MDEQ’s Communications Director

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20150928/NEWS01/150929872/doctors-urge-flint-to-stop-using-water-from-flint-river

Public Health Emergency in Genesee County

@HealthCritics, Detroit Free Press

August 13

300 Kits

sent to Flint

August 31

VT Results from

120 kits indicate a

“serious lead in

water problem”

September 25

Filter Fundraising

started by United

Way

September 24

Dr. Mona Hanna-

Attisha and her

team release

results of their study

on elevated blood

lead levels in

children

September 26-29

Public health

emergency

declared in

Genesee County

October 16

City of Flint

switches back to

Detroit Water

January 5, 2016

Gov. Snyder

declares

emergency in Flint

January 16

Pres. Obama signs

emergency

declaration –

Federal aid for Flint

Timeline Recap

2015 2016

All Roads Lead To Flint

Photo: Matt Gentry/AP

Rebekah Martin

The Trips We Made – For Science, For Humanity

Min Tang

2015 Trips to the City of Flint

Trip 4. Sentinel Home Sampling Dec. 1 – 3rd

Trip 3. Legionella Sampling Oct. 14 – 17th

Trip 2. Public Health Advisory Sep. 14 – 16th

Trip 1. Sampling Aug. 17 – 19th

ICP - MS

qPCR Legionella pneumophila Legionella spp. Total Bacteria (16S)

Mycobacterium avium Mycobacterium spp. Acanthamoeba polyphaga Pseudomonas aeruginosa

THMFP THM’s

(Disinfection

by-products)

Probes

pH

Temperature

Dissolved Oxygen

Chlorimeter Chlorine residual

Culture Staphylococcus

Heterotrophic Bacteria

Acid Producing Bacteria

Iron Reducing Bacteria

Sulfate Reducing Bacteria

Slime Forming Bacteria

Denitrifying Bacteria

BART

Technology

Used

Physical/Chemical

Parameters Measured Biological

Parameters Measured

Trip 1 : Sampling and Learning

Sampling Sites

Sampling supplies preparation team

Melissa Mays

Laura Sullivan

Claire McClinton

Nayyirah Shariff

LeeAnne Walters

Filter after filtering

Flint water

Mobile lab in

Mrs. Edwards’

van

Trip 2: Public Health Advisory

Dr. Jeff

Parks

measuring

lead using

ICP-MS

City

Council

Meeting

Sid Roy Speaking in Saints of God Church

Trip 3: Legionella Sampling

What tap water looked like one hour

before the switch!

Culturing was one

method used to detect

bacteria in drinking

water from Flint

Certificate of Appreciation from

Mayor Weaver

Trip 4: Sentinel home sampling

City School primary school students

doing corrosion coupon tests

Marc communicating science with

students

Personal Impact

Legionella in Flint’s waters

Emily Garner

An unfortunate prediction that came true

Dr. Otto Schwake

Bacteria monitoring Fecal Indicator Bacteria E. Coli Total Coliforms Enterococcus spp.

Opportunistic Pathogens Legionella pneumophila Mycobacterium avium Staphylococcus spp. Acanthamoeba spp. Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Corrosion-causing bacteria Heterotrophic aerobic bacteria Acid-producing bacteria Iron-reducing bacteria Sulfate-reducing bacteria Slime-producing bacteria

Testing for E. coli and other fecal indicator bacteria

cdc.gov

Legionella bacteria

Lack of corrosion control = Increased Legionella

1. More bacteria “food” in river

1. More bacteria “food” in river

2. Iron corrosion = more iron entering buildings’ pipes

Lack of corrosion control = Increased Legionella

High levels of corrosion-causing

bacteria

Flin

t W

ater

P

ure

Wat

er

1. More bacteria “food” in river

2. Iron corrosion = more iron entering buildings’ pipes

3. High iron corrosion removed chlorine disinfectant

Lack of corrosion control = Increased Legionella

GENESEE COUNTY LEGIONNAIRES’ OUTBREAKS

Flint Water

Switch

OUTBREAK SEVERITY

LOCATION DATE CASES DEATHS

WASHINGTON, DC 1965 81 14

PHILADELPHIA, PA 1976 221 34

BURLINGTON, VA 1980 85 16

CHICAGO, IL 2012 114 3

BRONX, NY 2015 124 12

GENESEE COUNTY 2014/2015 87 9

1.3 0.4

8.9

10.9

1.9

NATIONAL CALIFORNIA BRONX SUMMER 2015

OUTBREAK

GENESEE COUNTY

2014-2015

GENESEE COUNTY

2013

Case

s p

er

100,0

00 P

eo

ple

Legionnaires' Disease

Incidence Rates

Major U.S. Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreaks

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

“We remain diligent in our efforts to proactively and appropriately address the potential for future cases”

POSSIBLE LINKS TO FLINT RIVER WATER

Where do we go from here?

Photo: Matt Gentry/AP

Siddhartha Roy

Making sense (?) of this tragedy

18 months

100,000 residents

9000 kids

200 confirmed

Jake May/AP

Agency

MI Dept. of Environmental Quality

Environmental Protection Agency

MI Dept. of Health and Human Services

Emergency Managers

MI Governor

City of Flint

The Flint water crisis is a story of government failure, intransigence, unpreparedness, delay, inaction, and environmental injustice.

City of Flint/MDEQ Cheated on Monitoring

ACTUALLY FAILED NOW PASSED!

Ongoing Congressional Hearings and State/Federal Investigations

https://twitter.com/thedailyshow/status/688131499615363074

Jake May/AP

Jan 12 National Guard activated

Dec 14, 2015 City – Mayor Weaver

Jan 05, 2016 State – Gov. Snyder

Jan 16, 2015 Federal – Pres. Obama

$200+ million

Life-long: Education/Nutrition/Health Services

Interim: Meet the Lead and Copper Rule

Long term: Replacing water infrastructure

Overarching: Regain the trust of citizens you failed

Trip 5: 2016 Spring Break Sampling – Before/After Comparison of Lead + Legionella

“I KNOW IF I WAS A PARENT UP THERE [IN FLINT], I WOULD BE BESIDE MYSELF IF MY KIDS’ HEALTH COULD BE AT RISK.”

- President Barack Obama

Carolyn Kaster/AP

A Matter of Perspective

The

Big

Pic

ture

: O

f In

fras

tru

ctu

re

and

Law

s [Flint] is a reminder of why you can't shortchange basic services that we provide to our people, and we together provide as a government to make sure public health and safety is preserved. – Pres. Obama

http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/drinking-water/

Closing Comments for the Technical Community

• Flint was a “miracle” – It was exposed by residents, outsiders and journalists – a complete failure of government agencies!!

• Are there more Flints?

• Inadequate Policies (e.g. Lead and Copper Rule) – Often, NOT completely science-based. Stay apolitical, true to your science, but also understand the politics.

• A Culture of Compliance – Obsession with meeting regulations and targets than protecting public health and the environment

• Water Infrastructure Challenges

• Science Communication and Listening to the Public before preaching

• The Public as Equal Partners and our Ultimate Client

Why You and I should care

Grateful acknowledgement

• National Science Foundation, RAPID Grant #1556258

• Citizens of Flint

• WaterYouFightingFor? (Melissa Mays and LeeAnne Walters)

• Hurley Medical Center (Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha and others)

• US EPA Region 5 (Miguel Del Toral)

• ACLU of Michigan (Curt Guyette, Kate Levy)

• Sen. Jim Ananich, Congressman Dan Kildee (and their extraordinary staff)

• 1400+ donors supporting our work

• Michigan State Health Department // Genesee County Health Department

• Democracy Defense League (Nayyirah Shariff, Claire McClinton, Dr. Laura Sullivan)

• Northeast-Midwest Institute (Elin Betanzo) • Concerned Pastors for Social Action (Pastors Alfred Harris, Allen

Overton) • Parents for Non-toxic Alternatives (Dr. Yanna Lambrinidou) • City of Flint (Mayor Karen Weaver, Dayne Walling, Howard Croft,

Mike Glasgow) • Members of the media • Virginia Tech (staff and students)