Could the Days of Lead in Drinking Water Soon Be Over?

By Willy Blackmore Originally appeared in Word in Black In April, it will have been 10 years since the administration of Governor Rick Scott& changed the water source for Flint, Michigan, from the Detroit Water and Sewage Department to the Flint River.& The cost-cutting measure was devastating for the city, which not only ended up with high levels of lead in its drinking water after the corrosive river flows leached it out of pipes, but also suffered from an outbreak of Legionnaires disease too.& In the decade since, the city has been working to replace all of the lead pipes in its municipal water system, with a court-ordered deadline to finish this work by August. But despite seemingly endless digging and $97 million spent on the undertaking, there are still lead pipes remaining — and many residents in the predominantly Black city still do not trust the water system. The drama of the water crisis has made Flint a kind of byword not only for& lead contamination in drinking water but also for the disregard governments have for Black Americans writ large.& But even at its worst, Flint’s lead contamination was not as high as the levels found in some...