How Flint’s water crisis unfolded
Iowa has its nitrate pollution that has threatened tap water supplies, political careers and pocketbooks. Toledo, Ohio, temporarily lost its water supply to toxic algae in Lake Erie, fed by phosphorus runoff largely from farms in 2014.
And now, Flint, Mich., is fighting through a disaster in which a utility’s switch to river water, and some bad choices on chemical treatment, resulted in dangerous lead contamination.
CNN offered this summary of the country’s latest water disaster, with a list of five key developments.
The state of Michigan, which is managing the city’s budget in a financial crisis, decided to temporarily switch Flint’s water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River to save money. A new supply line to Lake Huron was in the works.
The river is less than pristine. Residents almost immediately complained of the water smelling bad and tasting foul when the switch was made in April 2014.
Virginia Tech researchers found that the water was highly corrosive. A lawsuit alleges that the state failed to control that, and lead leeched from pipes and into tap water.
The city switched back to the Lake Huron water supply in October, but the damage was already done to the lead pipes. The state is now handing out filters and bottled water with the National Guard.
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