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Dismissed and ridiculed, Virginia Tech researchers fought to prove Flint's water was unsafe
Last edited Fri Jan 29, 2016, 02:43 PM - Edit history (1)
Dismissed and ridiculed, Virginia Tech researchers fought to prove Flint's water was unsafe
courtesy of flintwaterstudy.org
Posted: Monday, January 18, 2016 6:28 pm
Lauren Farrar, news staff writer
....
For months, residents of Flint, Michigan, suspected the water coming from their faucets was unsafe to drink. Following a switch in the city’s water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River in 2014 to save the city money, residents began to notice a strange taste and brown hue. ... After a falsified city government report, included below, claimed that there was no contamination, a volunteer Virginia Tech research team proved that alarming levels of the neurotoxin lead were present in Flint’s drinking water. ... The residents and researchers fought an uphill battle convincing the Flint government that a crisis was at hand.
....
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) also fought the findings, telling the media that the Virginia Tech research team “(pulls) that rabbit out of that hat everywhere they go,” implying that the researchers results were no more than an illusion.
....
The research team at Virginia Tech consists of undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, research scientists and principal investigators. The team has received extensive national attention throughout the past few months. The study has been featured on CNN, The Daily Show, NBC News, The Washington Post, CBS News and much more.
“The research team, including all of our partners, focused on one thing, and that’s protecting the public welfare,” said Marc Edwards, civil engineering professor at Virginia Tech and one of the principal investigators for the study. “I wish that everyone could experience something so pure at least once in their lifetime.”
....
Further information about the research team can be found at Flint Water Study.
courtesy of flintwaterstudy.org
Posted: Monday, January 18, 2016 6:28 pm
Lauren Farrar, news staff writer
....
For months, residents of Flint, Michigan, suspected the water coming from their faucets was unsafe to drink. Following a switch in the city’s water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River in 2014 to save the city money, residents began to notice a strange taste and brown hue. ... After a falsified city government report, included below, claimed that there was no contamination, a volunteer Virginia Tech research team proved that alarming levels of the neurotoxin lead were present in Flint’s drinking water. ... The residents and researchers fought an uphill battle convincing the Flint government that a crisis was at hand.
....
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) also fought the findings, telling the media that the Virginia Tech research team “(pulls) that rabbit out of that hat everywhere they go,” implying that the researchers results were no more than an illusion.
....
The research team at Virginia Tech consists of undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, research scientists and principal investigators. The team has received extensive national attention throughout the past few months. The study has been featured on CNN, The Daily Show, NBC News, The Washington Post, CBS News and much more.
“The research team, including all of our partners, focused on one thing, and that’s protecting the public welfare,” said Marc Edwards, civil engineering professor at Virginia Tech and one of the principal investigators for the study. “I wish that everyone could experience something so pure at least once in their lifetime.”
....
Further information about the research team can be found at Flint Water Study.
Inspired Life
The heroic professor who helped uncover the Flint lead water crisis has been asked to fix it
By Colby Itkowitz January 27
@colbyitkowitz
In Flint, Mich., there is a famous block of concrete that for decades has served as a community message board. Like an old-school Facebook feed, residents use it to post personal news, images, upcoming events and commentary in sprawling graffiti. ... This week, several residents went to “The Block” (or “The Rock,” depending on whom you ask) with a message. In big, black capital letters they painted: “YOU WANT OUR TRUST?? WE WANT VA Tech!!!” Underneath they wrote “PSI” and circled it in red with a line through it. It stands for Professional Service Industries Inc., the independent business the city had wanted to hire to test its water for contamination, and which the residents don’t trust. ... They want Marc Edwards.
....
Edwards is the environmental engineering professor from Virginia Tech who once led, almost entirely on his own, a crusade against the federal government’s failure to protect residents of Washington from lead in the city’s water. And he won.
....
He is again largely funding this effort out of his own pocket. He received a small $33,000 emergency grant from the National Science Foundation, but he has estimated that he’s spent another almost $150,000. There is a GoFundMe page set up to raise money to offset some costs. The other night during a Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech basketball game, the Fighting Irish presented their opponents with a $2,000 check for its Flint water work.
....
“I feel like I’m doing the job I was born to do,” he said. “I get up every day with such a sense of purpose I wish everyone could experience something like that once in their life.”
The heroic professor who helped uncover the Flint lead water crisis has been asked to fix it
By Colby Itkowitz January 27
@colbyitkowitz
In Flint, Mich., there is a famous block of concrete that for decades has served as a community message board. Like an old-school Facebook feed, residents use it to post personal news, images, upcoming events and commentary in sprawling graffiti. ... This week, several residents went to “The Block” (or “The Rock,” depending on whom you ask) with a message. In big, black capital letters they painted: “YOU WANT OUR TRUST?? WE WANT VA Tech!!!” Underneath they wrote “PSI” and circled it in red with a line through it. It stands for Professional Service Industries Inc., the independent business the city had wanted to hire to test its water for contamination, and which the residents don’t trust. ... They want Marc Edwards.
....
Edwards is the environmental engineering professor from Virginia Tech who once led, almost entirely on his own, a crusade against the federal government’s failure to protect residents of Washington from lead in the city’s water. And he won.
....
He is again largely funding this effort out of his own pocket. He received a small $33,000 emergency grant from the National Science Foundation, but he has estimated that he’s spent another almost $150,000. There is a GoFundMe page set up to raise money to offset some costs. The other night during a Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech basketball game, the Fighting Irish presented their opponents with a $2,000 check for its Flint water work.
....
“I feel like I’m doing the job I was born to do,” he said. “I get up every day with such a sense of purpose I wish everyone could experience something like that once in their life.”
The article in the Washington Post brought forth this comment:
DocWater
1/28/2016 8:52 PM EST
Take an hour to watch this seminar. It is a remarkable event:
1/28/2016 8:52 PM EST
Take an hour to watch this seminar. It is a remarkable event: