Efficacy of corrosion control and pipe replacement in reducing citywide lead exposure during the Flint, MI water system recovery
| dc.contributor.author | Roy, Siddhartha | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Edwards, Marc A. | en |
| dc.contributor.department | Civil and Environmental Engineering | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2020-08-25T18:36:54Z | en |
| dc.date.available | 2020-08-25T18:36:54Z | en |
| dc.date.issued | 2020-08-25 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | Flint biosolids monitoring data demonstrate a sustained decline in total lead release to potable water from plumbing since the 2014–2015 Flint Water Crisis (FWC), due to enhanced corrosion control treatment (3 mg L−1 orthophosphate as PO4) and removing of ∼80% of lead and galvanized iron service lines through early 2020. The official 90th percentile water lead levels, which have now met the federal Lead and Copper Rule threshold of 15 μg L−1 for the last four years, are in agreement with those predicted by a previously established biosolids regression model. There is also no longer a correlation between the percentage of children under 6 years of age with blood lead ≥ 5 μg dL−1 and biosolids lead mass in the 44 months post-FWC (Nov 2015–Jun 2019), nor are there continued correlations between plumbing-related metals in the biosolids, with the exception of Cu:Zn found in brass alloys that remain installed in homes. After Flint achieves 100% replacement of lead and galvanized service line pipes, a biosolids data analysis predicts that the remaining sources of waterborne lead including leaded brass, lead solder and legacy lead in pipe scale, will still release about 16–28% of the pre-FWC lead mass to potable water. The efficacy of enhanced corrosion control and replacement of service lines that contain lead is, therefore, on the order of 72–84% effective at reducing citywide lead exposure, yet some significant water lead sources will still remain even after pipe replacement is complete. | en |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en |
| dc.identifier.doi | https://doi.org/10.1039/D0EW00583E | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10919/99846 | en |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.publisher | Royal Society of Chemistry | en |
| dc.rights | Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ | en |
| dc.title | Efficacy of corrosion control and pipe replacement in reducing citywide lead exposure during the Flint, MI water system recovery | en |
| dc.title.serial | Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology | en |
| dc.type | Article - Refereed | en |
| dc.type.dcmitype | Text | en |