Doctors performed blood tests on the people of Flint to check for lead poisoning More than 10 percent of the homes he studied had lead levels above the legal limits One house even had 1,000 times more lead than allowed The child living there was suffering from lead poisoning How did this happen In April 2014 the city of Flint changed its drinking water source It had been using the system of Detroit Michigan Now it used 6
the Flint River The river water was corrosive It ate away at the pipes Many of these pipes are made of lead Soon after the switch the people of Flint noticed changes The water coming out of their taps was brown It also smelled Some people complained of itchy skin Others started getting sick The government told residents the water was fine But many residents did not believe it A local doctor tested many children She found high levels of lead One of the children’s mothers contacted Edwards She had read about similar work he had done elsewhere The concerned mother sent his lab a sample of her water Lead Poisoning Lead is a naturally occurring element Humans have used it for centuries to make many things Bullets batteries and pipes contain lead It was also added to gasoline and paint in the past But lead is toxic to people and animals One of the most common causes of lead poisoning is from lead paint The United States banned lead in household paint in 1978 Children living in older homes can get sick from eating lead paint chips or dust 7
Edwards discovered it had very high lead levels It was the worst he had ever seen Over the next year Edwards and his team tested more water samples The study brought national attention to Flint’s lead problem Edwards’s work helped spotlight the issue of unsafe water What Is Environmental Engineering Environmental engineers use technology to fix or prevent environmental problems The environment is the world in which we live It includes both living and nonliving things People need clean water air and soil to stay healthy IN THE REAL WORLD Other Contaminants Environmental engineers test drinking water for more than lead In the United States the Safe Drinking Water Act sets maximum levels for more than 90 contaminants Some of the maximum levels are zero Drinking water cannot have any viruses arsenic or uranium Community water systems must give consumers a report every year on how clean their drinking water is 8
Testing water for pollution is an important part of environmental engineering
