Months after the 24-hour news cycle left the Flint Water Crisis behind, but only days after tap water in the city was deemed safe enough to consume, the CDC has released a report detailing their findings about the lead levels in the water. The report, as might be expected, is a shocking indictment of the Michigan government and their negligence when switching Flint’s water source from Detroit to the Flint River. After testing more than seven thousand kids from the city, the CDC can confidently say that consuming tap water raised blood levels in children under six to dangerously high levels, for which the threshold is 5 micrograms per deciliter.
During the time that Flint’s water was from the Flint River, these levels skyrocketed more than 50% in young children due to the corrosion in pipes that carried the water. Fortunately, after all of the fear, government hearings, and bottled water being shipped into town for residents to drink, lead levels finally dropped to safe amounts again this past Thursday.
Chillingly, a director at the CDC called the crisis “entirely preventable, and a startling reminder of the critical need to eliminate all sources of lead from our children’s environment.” The long term damage caused to the city’s children might not be known for a few more years but fortunately the immediate danger seems to have passed and people can look forward to knowing they have safe water to drink once again.
(via Gawker)