Cognitive Effects of Too Much Lead in the Water on City Officials

In the years following the Flint water crisis, which began in 2014, the issue of lead in the water has cropped up in many other Michigan communities.  What generally happens is that elevated lead levels (ELL) either show up in the blood of kids being tested or in building taps undergoing testing.  Suspicion turns to the long-time water utility provider, usually the city corporate, who has been providing water to residents for well over a hundred years and has had no need to replace many of the water lines that have been used since the nineteenth century.

Flint was like many other cities established then that built a water system beginning in the late 1800s and were finished with a majority of it by 1920.  During that era, almost all of the service lines from the cast iron water mains to end users' homes were constructed of lead, because it was relatively inexpensive and easy to work with.  Up until World War 2, lead was still used in connections, known as goosenecks because of their shape, between the water main to service lines made of galvanized iron.  

Lead conduits of either type along with lead used in soldering and joining water mains and other pipes can leach lead if reactive elements or chemically negative ions come in contact with it over time creating partially soluble lead salts that get carried up to the tap eventually.  Exposure to lead is dangerous at any level, but it is particularly dangerous to young kids as it retards normal cognitive development to a degree depending on the exposures.

The Flint water crisis had less to do with 100 year old lead pipes installed during a time when the hazard of lead wasn't understood, than it did with the errors of current city and state officials who should have known better.  Flint's city hall had already failed back in 2011, when an emergency manager was assigned to it by the state for its lack of fiscal discipline over the years, but the city council still made the decision to switch over to the Flint River in April 2013 as a water source, and did so in 2014, after cancelling their prior water supply agreement with Detroit.  

In August through October of 2014, Flint city officials, with approval of the  state DEQ, added extra chlorine in the water to combat bacteria found in other tests.  The chlorine not flushed out likely reacting with the lead pipes may have contributed to future readings of 397 ppb of lead in one home.  By this time the Flint council was deciding to change their mind and go back to their old water supply, but the emergency manager was reluctant due to the costs involved and his belief that Detroit water was no safer.

Throughout the crisis, until it could no longer be ignored by the involved officials from the city and state, those officials involved were telling the public that there were no problems.  Nothing to see here, the water was safe to drink.

Ludington, like Flint, had much of its water infrastructure running before the 1940s, as has another community we will look at:  Clare.

In the small mid-Michigan city of Clare, two downtown businesses have tested beyond the 15 parts per billion (ppb)(both were around 27 ppb) indicating unsafe levels.  Neither business (a jeweler and optometrist) uses water all that much, but this has understandably caused some commotion and concern from the rest of the community.  The city treasurer of Clare who is also the current acting city manager, Steven Kingsbury, has been telling news agencies looking into the issue that it's not such a big deal even though the city council has just had a public hearing over the concern this week.

"We've had some concerns, but on the opposite side, many (citizens) express their complete comfort that they are fine", he says, as if informally polling people who have no idea of the extent of the problem means anything.

"It's the service leads, the portion of the pipe that connects the residence or business location to the main that is the area of investigation," he says as if the portion of the pipe between the water main and the shut-off valve was not originally installed by the City of Clare, and is not their responsibility.  It is, but why expect a small city treasurer to be an expert on plumbing and law?   Maybe he learned this at the public hearing where they illustrated that the 'service leads' are the City's property and responsibility:

Nobody on the Clare city council seems to have much to say about the topic, which is probably just as good, for when the topic came up in Ludington, we had a couple of councilors that weighed in and showed how out of touch they were with reality.  Mason County led all 83 counties of the state with ELL in blood of their young children back in 2013 and finished runner-up in 2014 and 2015, actually finishing well ahead of Flint's Genessee County in the first two years of their water crisis.  

So with that knowledge and the unearthing of multiple lead goosenecks throughout the Fourth Ward in 2017, that ward's councilor Michael Krauch went on record saying that the City water is the best he had ever tasted and he absolved the lead issue by that opinion, as if leaded water tastes bad (if you ever ate lead paint chips as a child, like Mike seems to have, you know the sweet flavor of lead salts can't be beat).

Yet the most addled observations made with regard to Ludington's lead pipes were made by retired high school chemistry teacher Councilor Kathy Winczewski.  At the same meeting where the utility maintenance supervisor said there were quite a few lead gooseneck pipes around Ludington's water system, a fact that even City Manager John Shay admitted, she went on to say:

"There's no lead in any pipes that we know of in the city, so in 19 years that Darrell has been down in those holes, he has not noticed any lead pipes down there... I think as Ludington city council, we have addressed all these issues, and unless situations change or new information is brought forward, the city council can put this concern aside."

This was a few months before lead goosenecks by the gallon were being taken out of the ground, at which point she secured some and brought them to a council meeting to explain away the fears.

She would complain about feeling sick right before she gave a lecture on how safe Ludington's lead pipes were waving around goosenecks like they were flags, and passed out recently excavated lead pipes.  It was enough to make you ill, even if you declined to touch them.

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Well never know really until truth is sought and the reports are made known. It seems that those so concerned about children having a splash pad should be more concerned about the quality of the water they are splashing on them daily in their baths and what they drink. For the cost of renovations (again) of the James St. Plaza, every home could have been equipped with a $600 reverse osmosis water filter or the city could have done a huge number of lead pipe replacement AND probably installed a master reverse osmosis water filter at the water plant for the entire city. For the cost of yearly water, electric and maintenance of the splashpad, who knows how many homeless children could be sheltered? But instead, secret groups push through their secret agendas at any cost and withhold information to the public.

Excellent thread again X, and very important facts that Ludington City officials need to wake up to and address for the safety of local citizens. Of course then there's Councilor Kathy, an expert on so many subjects, yet actually clueless and ignorant of facts and truths regarding testing on our water here since 2013 as revealed. She and Krauch both think like most liberals, ignore facts and tests, and simply state opinions of bias as far more credible to this critical situation of poisoning. And FS, your post is very relevant and important here. Many more children and adults are being poisoned with every passing year, while councilors, (concilors), have higher priorities here than safety and health issues. A link to the reverse osmosis filter should be posted, and a copy given to the Mayor and entire council asap so they start to look at this very serious issue again soon.

The survey of the city's pipes has likely been completed, and that we have several areas of town where lead goosenecks and/or suspected lead piping have been located by the contractors doing this, courtesy of the state.  It's rather disappointing that people who are served by such lines have not been notified by the utility provider, the City of Ludington, to use proper precautions when using City water for drinking purposes. 

It's unfathomable why they wouldn't have a book of simple door-hangers used by utility maintenance staff or the contractor saying that the residence or business appears to have lead conduits in their water service lines as observed at the City shut-off valve and that those using the water should follow guidelines to minimize the danger.  Kids are getting poisoned needlessly because adults worrying about liability issues are withholding information from them and their parents. 

Well done X. One thing about Flint and other cities is that they know lead pipes exist but they continue to put off replacing them.

Thanks Willy and Aquaman for your assessments, I have been a little busy to do much on the Torch this weekend as I've been harvesting wood from the forest, mainly to sell at my little Dowland roadside firewood stand this upcoming summer.  It's tough work, but I'm always happy to provide quality firewood at the best value price every summer.  Despite increased competition, it was another successful year.

Funny thing happened to me on Saturday.  I was in the process of scouting for wood when all of a sudden, I felt a strange tingling climbing up my leg.  It kept moving up to my pants pocket level, and I finally came to the realization that some creature was climbing around under and inside my pants.

Worried that it could be a spider or snake, I eventually noticed it was a small lump and it had a furry texture when it got to the point where it could get no higher.  I danced a spirited jig hoping to get the critter to fall out the same way he climbed in, and after a short while, a little field mouse popped out and frantically ran off.  Thankfully, he wasn't the biting type, but he did provide some good entertainment for the other guy I was with.

You had nothing to worry about because Trouser snakes eat mice. Below is a video showing one of our English cousins having the same problem.

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