Flint red flag: 2015 report urged corrosion control
Experts say the March report was one in a series of missed opportunities to
find out what was wrong with Flint's water
Flint red flag: 2015 report urged corrosion control
Experts say the March report was one in a series of missed opportunities to
find out what was wrong with Flint's water
Paul Egan,
Detroit Free Press 10:43 p.m. EST January 21, 2016
Flint resident Gladyes Williamson-Bunnell holds a sample of water that came
from her home she saved from August 2014.(Photo: Ryan Garza Detroit Free
Press)Buy
Photo
LANSING -- A March 2015
consultant's report
recommended spending $50,000 to add corrosion control chemicals to Flint's
drinking water because iron was leaching from the pipes and turning the water
brown — a significant and relatively early red flag that city officials and
regulators missed, experts said Thursday..
The report, commissioned by the City of Flint from the multinational
environmental consulting firm Veolia, made no mention of lead leaching into the
water
and did not cite health concerns, only aesthetic ones. Its recommendation to
add phosphates to soften the water would have cost a tiny fraction of today's
mounting costs to address the Flint drinking water crisis, but it went unheeded
by the city's state-appointed emergency manager.
"If you've got iron sloughing off (the pipes), you've got other metals
sloughing off, including lead," said Joan Rose, a chair of water research in
MSU's
Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and a former chairwoman of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency's drinking water committee.
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The March 12, 2015, Veolia report, addressed to former Flint emergency manager
Gerald Ambrose, had earlier been posted on the Flint website. It resurfaced
Wednesday when Snyder released hundreds of pages of e-mails related to Flint
that he sent and received in 2014 and 2015.
It appears Snyder did not get the report when Ambrose did. An electronic
version of the report was forwarded to the governor by his then-chief of Staff,
Dennis Muchmore, on Oct. 13, after state officials acknowledged a health
problem with Flint water following months of denials.
Ambrose could not be reached for comment Thursday.
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Snyder and his administration are under intense criticism and media scrutiny
over the poisoning with lead of a still undetermined number of Flint children
while the city was under control of emergency managers the governor appointed.
In April 2014, in what was to be a temporary cost-cutting move while it
awaited construction of a new pipeline, the city switched its drinking water
source from Lake Huron water treated by the Detroit Water and Sewerage
Department
to Flint River water treated at the Flint water treatment plant.
State Department of Environmental Quality officials have acknowledged a drastic
mistake in failing to require Flint to add needed corrosion control chemicals
to the water. After first scoffing at reports of a spike in blood lead levels
in Flint children, the state acknowledged a problem in early October and
helped Flint reconnect to the Detroit system. But officials say a danger
persists because of damage to the water distribution system by the corrosive
Flint
River water and that residents still shouldn't drink the tap water without
using a lead filter.
Snyder declared a state of emergency Jan. 5 and mobilized the Michigan National
Guard to help with water and filter distribution on Jan. 12. On Saturday,
President Barack Obama declared a federal state of emergency in Flint. He
announced $80 million in financial aid for water infrastructure projects in
Michigan
on Thursday — and some of that money is likely to be used to help Flint.
A statement released Thursday by Veolia North America said Flint had asked the
company to focus on taste, color and odor issues, as well as disinfection
byproducts that had exceeded federal standards. "Flint had previously tested
lead and copper levels and a review of that data was not part of our scope
of work," the statement said.
Veolia spokesman Paul Whitmore said the report "focused on key aspects of water
quality and included recommendations to change chemicals and dosing to minimize
the risk of potentially high levels of lead associated with corrosion in the
distribution system." But he conceded the report made no mention of lead.
The report, which made more than 20 recommendations, was presented at public
meetings with Flint's technical advisory committee, which included public health
officials, and was posted on the city website when it was made public, the
company statement said.
Though the report was not e-mailed directly to Snyder until October, the
governor had earlier been sent information about the corrosive nature of Flint
drinking water, though again it did not come attached to any direct health
warning.
A briefing paper on Flint water sent to Snyder on Feb. 1 referenced the fact
the Flint River water was "harder" than the Lake Huron water Flint formerly
received from the Detroit water system.
"It's why General Motors suspended use of Flint water," the briefing paper from
the DEQ said. "It was rusting their parts."
GM's decision in October 2014 to switch off of City of Flint water in favor of
Flint Township water, which came from Detroit, is now seen as another missed
opportunity to investigate what was wrong with Flint's water. At the time, the
company said it was concerned high chloride levels in the treated water
would cause corrosion.
Muchmore, the former Snyder chief of staff, said on the public affairs program
"Off the Record" on WKAR-TV last Friday that he and Snyder were aware of
the GM move away from Flint water when it happened.
"So that was not a red flag?" Tim Skubick, the host of the program, asked
Muchmore.
"Well, it was a flag," Muchmore replied. However, it appeared "the kind of
water that they need has such a small tolerance that you can never guarantee
that for every day public water."
The briefing paper sent to Snyder on Feb. 1 also said complaints about brown
water coming out of Flint taps "may also be attributable to cast iron pipes
in customers' service connections to the city lines."
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Snyder could be asked to testify before Congress on Flint
The briefing paper said "discoloration is not an indicator of water quality or
water safety."
But Marc Edwards, the Virginia Tech researcher and drinking water expert who
helped expose the Flint public health crisis, said if iron is leaching into
the water from old pipes and connections, it follows that lead is also leaching.
He described the March report from Veolia as a significant red flag, though
"not as bad (a red flag) as the red water pouring out of taps everywhere."
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. Follow him on Twitter
@paulegan4.
Source:
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/01/21/flint-red-flag-2015-report-urged-corrosion-control/79119240/
