Plumbers are helping Flint residents struggling to cope with the lead-poisoned water coming out of their faucets. Harold Harrington with Michigan Plumber’s Union UA Local 370 says members have installed about 200 donated filters that remove most of the lead from the tap water. He explained that residents voted back in 2013 to switch to a new water source because Detroit-supplied water had become too expensive. The poisoning began after the decision was made to use the river water during the two-year wait as engineers connected the city to the new, cheaper water source
“They didn’t treat the (river) water properly and it was 19 times more corrosive comin’ to everybody’s houses in the city than it should have been and the corrosiveness in the water caused the protective film on these existing lead lines that had been put in a hundred years ago up until 1950. Most of the houses in Flint were built before 1950.”
In addition to installing the free filters, the plumbers have donated bottled water to needy residents. Harrington was a guest on 790 KABC’s McIntyre in the Mornign Show with Doug McIntyre and Terrie Rae Elmer.
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