Almost 700 homes in Flint, Mich., have dangerous amounts of lead in their drinking water, including 17 with amounts almost 70 times the amount the Environmental Protection Agency considers dangerous, according to recent tests.
Seven percent of the homes in Flint are above the Environmental Protection Agency’s action level for lead, which is 15 parts per billion, according to state test results released on Wednesday from the latest round of testing, more than 90 percent of which was done in the past two months.
According to the EPA, any amount of lead in drinking water is unsafe. About 48 percent of homes in the city have some amount of lead in their water supply.
A test at one house showed a lead level of 10,467 parts per billion. That’s more than twice the level of what the EPA considers hazardous waste. The test results showed 103 other homes had lead levels of more than 100 parts per billion in their drinking water. Seventeen had 1,000 parts per billion.
The state report shows 10,227 homes were included in the latest round of testing.
The Flint River water used by the city since April 2014 ate away at the lead pipes bringing drinking water to homes because it was so acidic. That allowed lead to go into the drinking water supply, unchecked until a lead advisory was issued in September 2015 and the state stepped in a month later.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said Tuesday that the state is identifying lead pipes to begin removing them. Flint Mayor Karen Weaver outlined last week a $55 million plan to remove and replace the city’s lead pipes.
“We’re committed to the people of Flint, and the top priority is ensuring people have access to safe water,” Snyder said. “We need to make sure people will be able to once again turn on the tap and be able to use what comes from it. We’re immediately targeting high-risk, high-hazard homes to help those families. Together, we can focus on longer-term solutions.”
Tests taken between April 1, 2014, and Feb. 12 show that 312 children under the age of 6 had elevated levels of lead in their blood, a separate state report shows.
The reports come on the heels of a study by Food and Water Watch that showed Flint residents paid the most expensive water bills in the country.
According to the study, the average Flint resident paid $864.32 in water utility bills as of January 2015. That’s nearly a full year after the water source was switched to the Flint River, which caused lead to leach off the lead pipes and into drinking water.
