Q&A: Legionnaires' disease adds to water concerns in Flint

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Q&A: Legionnaires' disease adds to water concerns in Flint

Ed White, Associated Press

Updated 3:20 am, Friday, January 15, 2016

DETROIT (AP) — A water crisis in Flint has focused mostly on the impact of drinking supplies containing lead that had leached from old plumbing after the city switched sources to save money. But Michigan officials stunned the community this week when they also reported an increase in Legionnaires' disease cases over the past two years in Genesee County, where Flint is located.

There were at least 87 confirmed Legionnaires' cases, including 10 deaths, from June 2014 to November 2015, compared to only 21 cases in 2012 and 2013. Michigan health officials said they can't conclude that the increase was related to Flint's water, although concerned residents blitzed the county health department with phone calls Thursday.

Flint pulled water from the Flint River for 18 months until last fall but didn't use treatments that could have reduced corrosion and possibly removed other contaminants. Local officials declared a public health emergency in October in response to elevated levels of lead in children. Lead can cause behavior problems and learning disabilities in children as well as kidney ailments in adults.



Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/science/article/Q-A-Legionnaires-disease-adds-to-water-concerns-6759589.php

[Festivito]

1. Cu Fe pipes corrode, Cl attacks these metals -> little Cl left for bacteria.

Warm summer temps, uneven use: day night weekends have me thinking out loud here.

Saving money by not putting in corrosion prevention will look like negligent homicide to outright murder.

Whereas Pb is already in every house in Flint and probably, repeat probably the cause of lead poisonings rather than higher lead in the water. But, that fight is going to be more political than science based.

The bacterial problems are damning.