Keweenaw Report Your Source for Local News and Sports
The doctor who first found high lead levels in the blood of kids in Flint says the city’s water crisis doesn’t have to be Flint’s legacy.
Doctor Mona Hanna-Attisha says, as long as the state is willing to put in the time, effort and money, the city can rebound.
In fact, Hanna-Attisha says the city’s current water crisis could wind up being just a speed bump for a community that’s seen more downs than ups.
And she says, as long as doctors are able to intervene early, kids in Flint don’t have to become a lead poisoning statistic but instead part of the success story.
Hanna-Attisha’s comments came hours before the governor delivered a State of the State address last week that pledged immediate money to help Flint recover from its water crisis.
And state lawmakers expect more money will be earmarked for Flint in the upcoming budget, which the governor will lay out his wish-list for next month.
While the state says it still can’t find a connection between the high lead levels in Flint’s water and an outbreak of Legionnaires Disease in Genesee County, Hanna-Attisha says corrosive water will cause both lead and iron to leach from old pipes.
She says it’s almost expected water that isn’t treated with corrosion control would lead to an uptick in a disease like Legionnaires because iron both allows bacteria to grow and eats up chlorine, which kills bacteria.
87 cases of Legionnaires disease have been reported in Genesee County between June of 2014 and November of 2015, which is around the same time Flint switched water sources.
Nine people have died from the disease, which is a severe form of pneumonia.
