Evaluating Water Lead Levels During the Flint Water Crisis.

In April 2014, the drinking water source in Flint, Michigan was switched from Lake Huron water with phosphate inhibitors to Flint River water without corrosion inhibitors. The absence of corrosion control and use of a more corrosive source increased lead leaching from plumbing. Our city-wide citizen science water lead results contradicted official claims that there was no problem- our 90th percentile was 26.8 µg/L, which was almost double the Lead and Copper Rule action level of 15 µg/L. Back calculations of a LCR sampling pool with 50% lead pipes indicated an estimated 90th percentile lead value of 31.7 µg/L (±4.3 µg/L). Four subsequent sampling efforts were conducted to track reductions in water lead after the switch back to Lake Huron water and enhanced corrosion control. The incidence of water lead varied by service line material. Between August 2015 and November 2016, median water lead reduced from 3.0 to <1 µg/L for homes with copper service lines, 7.2-1.9 µg/L with galvanized service lines, and 9.9-2.3 µg/L with lead service lines. As of summer 2017, our 90th percentile of 7.9 µg/L no longer differed from official results, which indicated Flint's water lead levels were below the action level.

Citizen science chlorine surveillance during the Flint, Michigan federal water emergency.

Rising incidence of waterborne diseases including Legionellosis linked to low chlorine residuals in buildings and the availability of inexpensive testing options, create an opportunity for citizen science chorine monitoring to complement sampling done by water utilities. University researchers and Flint residents coordinated a citizen science chlorine surveillance campaign in Flint, Michigan in 2015-19, that helped expose the nature of two deadly Legionnaires Disease outbreaks in 2014-2015 during the Flint Water Crisis and progress of system recovery during the Federal emergency. Results obtained with an inexpensive color wheel were in agreement with a digital colorimeter (R2 =0.99; p = 2.81 × 10-21) at 15 sites geographically distributed across Flint. Blinded tests revealed good agreement between official (n = 2051) and citizen (n = 654) data in terms of determining whether regulatory guidelines for chlorine were met, but a discovery that the citizen data were statistically lower than the city's (p<0.00001) especially in warm summer months led to recommendations for increased flushing of service lines before measurements. This work suggests that expanded citizen surveillance of chlorine, site specific flushing advice, and guidance on decisions about water heater set point could help consumers reduce Legionella risks in their homes. Citizen science initiatives for chlorine monitoring offer a unique opportunity for mutually beneficial collaborations between consumers and utilities to reduce the main source of waterborne disease in developed countries.