Environment+prize+goes+to+Flint+water+activist

[|BBC Environmental and Science News:] 23 April 2018

Summary: This article talks about Ms Walters's finding that the lead levels in her home was seven times acceptable limits. The is the founder of a citizen's movement that helped expose the water crisis (tested the tap water to expose the health threat) in Flint, Michigan. She also received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize.  Nearly 100,000 residents of Flint were left without safe tap water after lead began leaching into the supply. The reason she started this was in 2014, when she found her home turned brownish, her daughter's hair fell off and her twins got rashes. There were many other symptoms presented too. After tests and researches, they realized the water from the Flint River was more corrosive than Lake Huron's water and the pipes began leaching lead, which is a powerful neurotoxin. Walters and her groups action helped save Flint millions of dollars, and most importantly, many lives.

Relation to class: This article is related to our water pollution unit we just learned. Water pollution, means any chemical, biological, or physical change in water quality that has a harmful effect on living organisms or makes water unsuitable for desired uses, (Miller 534) in this case, the excessive amount of Lead in water. This is one class of water pollution, water soluble inorganic chemicals, where acids, salts, compounds of toxic metals (such as Hg and Pb) are found. High levels of these can make water unfit to drink, harm fish and other aquatic life, lower crop yields, accelerate corrosion of metals exposed to such water. (Miller 536) In this case, the effects are the treats to human health.

Opinion: This is not the first article talking about water pollution, there are countless cases happening around the world, especially in Africa, those developing countries. They don't have high quality water thus many people are sick, they have lower crop yields, many wildlife and aquatic life are affected too. Water pollution take place in developed counties too, where factories, communities may consciously or unconsciously expose toxic substances (chemicals) to nearby lakes, groundwater and so on. It is important for us to protect our precious water resources, the government should teach citizens more about water protection and make laws about safety level of chemical contents.

Law: The laws related to this article are Water Quality Act of 1965 which States were directed to develop water quality-standards establishing water quality goals for interstate waters, as well as Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 which requires the EPA to establish national drinking water standards, called maximum contaminant levels, for any pollutants that may have adverse effects on human health.