Michigan City's Water Has So Much Lead Schools Ban Students From Using Water Fountains

Due to high-risk levels of lead found in the public water supply, schools in Flint, Michigan, have told students to bring bottled water to class and have warned them not to drink from the water fountains inside schools.

Concerns about the water are not limited to Flint schools. Due to the presence of corrosive contaminants in the Flint River water (one Virginia Tech test of the water showed corrosive element levels were 19 times higher than water from Lake Huron), General Motors won't use the water from the public water supply in its manufacturing process.

On Thursday, General Motors announced it also was donating $50,000 to a private and public community fund providing filters for at least 5,000 Flint residents.

Those filters will be welcomed by residents, like the woman who posted a video showing contaminated water coming from the faucet in her kitchen. She called the yellow-tinted liquid "beer water" and asked, "Who in their right mind would want to bathe in this?"

As the government tries to figure out how to solve the problem, the community is taking action.

A group of local radio stations will be collecting bottled water for the schools and filters for residents all next week.

One local bar is exchanging alcohol for bottled water, which will be donated to at least one of the affected schools:

The problems with Flint's drinking water started almost two years ago when the city stopped purchasing water from Detroit and decided to build a pipeline to bring water from Lake Huron directly to the 100,000+ citizens in the area.

The new pipeline from Lake Huron to Flint is not scheduled to be finished until late 2016. As a cost-saving measure, the city decided stop paying Detroit for water and started pumping it from the nearby Flint River.

Almost immediately after the water swap was made, concerns were raised about quality. At a public meeting about the water problem held in January, residents complained, sharing stories of skin rashes on children bathing in the new water.

A recent study of more than 1,700 Flint-area children found significantly elevated levels of lead. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha from the Hurley Medical Center shared the results with the local authorities and suggested parents stop mixing tap water with baby formula, pregnant women avoid drinking tap water and advised the city to hand out filters that trap lead.

Dr. Hanna-Atisha told Michigan's M-Live that lead poisoning among children in the test was increasing at an "alarming" rate. Hanna-Attisha highlighted the importance of responding quickly, adding that "lead poisoning is irreversible."

Flint's mayor, Dayne Walling read the results of the lead test last week and held a press conference responding to the tests. Walling petitioned Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) to consider reconnecting Flint to the Detroit water system until the new pipeline is ready. The switch would be a costly one for a city and state already facing difficult fiscal times.

After the news broke about the elevated lead levels and the danger posed to children, the Flint school superintendent made a public appeal for water donations.

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