More and more cities are now seeing lead being infused with their water. We first heard of this from Flint, Michigan after they were under a lead water crisis. The contamination is being reached beyond just Flint, Michigan. According to USA TODAY, hundreds of school are being exposed to the contaminated water.
The Environmental Protection Agency data says, “about 350 schools and day-care centers failed lead tests a total of about 470 times from 2012 through 2015.” This is ridiculous. “That represents nearly 20% of the water systems nationally testing above the agency’s ‘action level’ of 15 parts per billion.”
In the state of New Jersey, a coalition led by a community development nonprofit, Isles, Inc., pressed Gov. Chris Christie to increase the funding of a program so that the lead can be controlled. A recent analysis showed that ” 11 cities had a higher proportion of children with dangerous lead levels than Flint.”
Isles environmental health director Elyse Pivnick says, “
If you’re a mother in Trenton or Newark, we do not think the problem has been solved.”
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is blaming the Environmental Protection Agency for not protecting Flint residents when they began to worry about their water being contaminated. In contrast, Administrator Gina McCarthy blames the state saying,
“The crisis we’re seeing was the result of a state-appointed emergency manager deciding that the city would stop purchasing treated drinking water and instead switch to an untreated source to save money. The state of Michigan approved that decision.”
The government is requiring about 10 schools to be tested for lead.
Source: TWP
