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At Least 33 US Cities Used Water Testing 'Cheats' Over Lead Concerns (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader writes: In an exclusive report via The Guardian, investigators found there to be at least 33 cities across 17 U.S. states that have used water testing "cheats" in an effort to cover up potentially dangerous levels of lead. The investigation was launched after the toxic water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and found that 21 of these cities used the same water testing methods that resulted in criminal charges against three government employees in Flint. Such cities include Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit and Milwaukee. The Guardian reports: "The Guardian investigation concerned thousands of documents detailing water testing practices over the past decade. They include: Despite warnings of regulators and experts, water departments in at least 33 cities used testing methods over the past decade that could underestimate lead found in drinking water. Officials in two major cities -- Philadelphia and Chicago -- asked employees to test water safety in their own homes. Two states -- Michigan and New Hampshire -- advised water departments to give themselves extra time to complete tests so that if lead contamination exceeded federal limits, officials could re-sample and remove results with high lead levels. Some cities denied knowledge of the locations of lead pipes, failed to sample the required number of homes with lead plumbing of refused to release lead pipe maps, claiming it was a security risk."
The appointed special manager is a Democrat. Actually, all of them (Flint has needed special managers multiple times due to fiscal incompetence) have been Democrats.
The city council, which fail to perform the maintenance on the city's water system, is entirely Democrats.
The EPA is supervised by Democrats, and is part of a Democratic administration.
There are no Republicans involved in the managing of the city, or of the water switchover. It just happens to be in a state with a Republican governor, so embarrassed Democrats are desperately trying to pass the blame.
As soon as you expose pure water to air, it absorbs carbon dioxide and the PH drops.
one source of many if you care to look.
Each ph level is 10x more acidic. So if the ph is 6, down to 5 is 10, down to 4 is 100, down to 3 is 1000, down to 2 is 10,000. The math is right given that the poster said "5.5 to 6" and "nearly 10,000 times."
So, your facts are wrong and your reading comprehension could use a bit of work.
No, because by and large the lead has always been there. Flint is about the only exception, and that's because the amount of lead leeching out of the pipes increased with the change in water sources.
Texas and California are two of the four states with the most "action-level" lead test results. Some Oklahoma cities have among the highest lead levels in the country.
The map shows cities in all of EPA regions 1-5, and none in regions 6-10. It seems likely that the Guardian staff simply started working their way through audit results, and stopped when they had enough material for a story.