Lead release to potable water during the Flint, Michigan water crisis as revealed by routine biosolids monitoring data

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dc.contributor.authorRoy, Siddharthaen
dc.contributor.authorTang, Minen
dc.contributor.authorEdwards, Marc A.en
dc.contributor.departmentCivil and Environmental Engineeringen
dc.date.accessioned2019-08-22T17:03:30Zen
dc.date.available2019-08-22T17:03:30Zen
dc.date.issued2019-09-01en
dc.description.abstractRoutine biosolids monitoring data provides an independent and comprehensive means to estimate water lead release pre-, during and post-Flint Water Crisis (FWC). The mass of potable plumbing-related metals ( i.e., lead, cadmium, copper, nickel and zinc) in sewage biosolids strongly correlated with one another during the FWC (p < 0.05). A simple parametric regression model based on 90th percentile potable water lead measurements (WLL90) from five city-wide citizen science sampling efforts August 2015-August 2017 was strongly correlated to corresponding monthly lead mass in biosolids [Biosolids-Pb (kg) = 0.483 x WLL90 (mu g/L) + 1.79: R-2 = 0.86, p < 0.05]. Although total biosolids lead increased just 14% during the 18 months of the FWC versus the comparable time pre-FWC, 76% of that increase occurred in July -September 2014, and the corresponding percentage of Flint children under 6 years with elevated blood lead >= 5 mu g/dL (i.e., %EBL5) doubling from 3.45% to 6.61% in those same three months versus 2013 (p < 0.05). %EBL5 was not statistically higher during the remaining months of the FWC compared to preFWC or post-FWC. As expected, lead in biosolids during the FWC, when orthophosphate was not added, was moderately correlated with water temperature (R-2 = 0.30, p < 0.05), but not at other times pre- and post-FWC when orthophosphate was present. Tripling the orthophosphate dose post-FWC versus pre-FWC and some lead pipe removal, decreased lead in biosolids (and %EBLS) to historic lows (2016-2017 vs. 2012-2013; p < 0.05), supporting the effectiveness of these public health interventions in reducing childhood water lead exposure. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.en
dc.description.notesThis publication was partly funded and developed under Grant No. 8399375 "Untapping the Crowd: Consumer Detection and Control of Lead in Drinking Water" awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to Virginia Tech. It has not been formally reviewed by EPA. The views expressed in this document are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Agency. EPA does not endorse any products or commercial services mentioned in this publication.en
dc.description.sponsorshipU.S. Environmental Protection Agency [8399375]en
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2019.05.091en
dc.identifier.issn0043-1354en
dc.identifier.pmid31177077en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/93217en
dc.identifier.volume160en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en
dc.subjectBlood lead levelsen
dc.subjectBiosolidsen
dc.subjectFlint water crisisen
dc.subjectLead corrosionen
dc.subjectLead exposureen
dc.titleLead release to potable water during the Flint, Michigan water crisis as revealed by routine biosolids monitoring dataen
dc.title.serialWater Researchen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
dc.type.dcmitypeStillImageen

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