https://www.gpbnews.org/post/5-years-after-flints-crisis-began-water-safe
Five years ago, the drinking water source for Flint, Mich., was switched, setting the stage for the city’s water crisis.
In the years since, residents of the aging industrial city have seen their children’s blood lead levels spike, government officials grudgingly admit mistakes and perhaps seen Flint begin to recover.
It’s still common to see claims on social media that Flint still doesn’t have clean water.
Flint still faces a long road to recovery.
For example, it will be several years before studies will be able to show whether drinking Flint’s lead-tainted tap water affected the cognitive and behavioral development of thousands of young children.
It is the future of those children that will determine whether Flint truly emerges stronger from its water crisis.
How can lead be removed from the water?
By utilizing a whole house carbon filter. 1
Who is at risk of lead in tap water?
More than 15% of households in North America and 5% in Europe have lead exposure above recommended levels according to EPA and WHO*. The main reason is lead pipes and jointures in older buildings but it could also come from the municipal water delivery system as in the case of Flint, Michigan.
The problem is that we don’t know where the lead exposure is as it has to be tested locally at every faucet. What we know though is that newer buildings since the 90s have very low risk of lead exposure unless the city water in general has an issue. Such issues have recently been found in New Jersey, Chicago and Washington DC most likely there are a lot more places.
Has lead been detected in the Phoenix metro Arizona waters?
Several water systems in Arizona that years ago had found unsafe amounts of lead in water samples didn’t start taking required action that includes notifying customers until February.
That was shortly after The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com began requesting information about lead levels in drinking water from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and several water utilities.
The Republic found some water providers did not conduct follow-up testing or notify their customers after water samples revealed elevated lead levels. The Environmental Protection Agency requires that water providers take those steps, and more, if more than 10 percent of their samples reveal the presence of lead contamination at more than 15 parts per billion.
But one water provider was clueless about a high test result until last month.
What is the risk?
The biggest problem is that there is no safe level of lead. Exposure is especially bad for young children who are still developing. Therefore even lead levels below EPAs and WHOs recommendations may have a negative health impact.
What makes it even worse is that it’s very difficult to test for lead in tap water. Even if a lab test doesn’t detect lead in the water there could be lead the next day. Lead usually doesn’t leech constantly from pipes but comes and goes. Therefore, it’s better to be safe than sorry for cities and buildings with possible lead corrosion and use a water filter.
Here is our solution to lead in your water.
We call this product our Boyett’s family double carbon lead remover (it also removes chlorine).
This feature can also be combined with the Boyett’s family water treatment dynamic duel to provide lead free – softened water.
Dynamic duel: whole house carbon filtration and water softener (all in one package): http://wp.azh2o.com/dynamicduel-2/
Footnotes:
1.
Abstract
A point‐of‐use (POU) granular activated carbon (GAC) fixed bed adsorber (FBA) was evaluated for reduction of soluble and insoluble lead from drinking water. Some of the factors which affect lead removal by GAC were evaluated, such as carbon type, solution pH, and a limited amount of work on competitive interactions. The design criteria for lead reduction by a POU device are also addressed. Minicolumns were used to evaluate the capacity of carbon for lead under a variety of conditions. The importance of surface chemistry of the carbon and the relationship with the pH of the water for lead reduction was demonstrated. Results indicate that a properly designed POU‐GAC‐FBA can reduce lead in drinking water to below the EPA action level of 15 ppb while being tested under a variety of conditions as specified under the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) International Standard 53 test protocol.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ep.670130120
A short story of my father (founder of Boyett’s family water treatment)
As I look back on it and I often do, I think of the words of a Merle Haggard song: “No amount of money could buy from me, the memories I have of then. No amount of money could pay me to go back and live through it again”.
Our small farm house about two miles east of Ibex, Texas did not have indoor plumbing. The chromed Aladdin Lamp I studied by is now a prized possession that I glance at every day. It was much brighter than our kerosene lamps. We had a fireplace in one end of the house and wood cook stove in the other for heat. Since we had no insulation, it was freezing cold in the winter and hot in the summer.
My mother was severely crippled and it is still unbelievable to me how she managed to help raise children, raise a garden and do dozens of other farm chores as well as run an active household.
In order to wash clothes, she heated water in a large cast-iron pot which was placed over a mesquite wood fire. When the water got hot, she carried the water in a bucket to an old Maytag wringer washer which was run by a gasoline motor. Then she hung the clothes on a clothesline outside the house. I vividly remember how terribly cold it was as I helped her in the winter time.
As a small child, life was a dream for me. My parents had it really tough but I had a fantastic horse and an equally good dog. The three of us spent all day together in many adventures. In the summertime, the dog and I spent several hours each day playing in a lush pond.
A picture of my father and mother ‘founders of Boyett’s family water treatment’
As the manager of our company, I reflect many times each day on the fabulous character of my father.
His nature shows in the dynamic water treatment company he founded. We are imbued with the legacy of this highly ethical, hard-working, creative, social and exciting person. My mother (our President today) holds us to a very high moral standard. She expects a lot and we deliver these high expectations to you through our products, service and community involvement.
Here is the long of this short story:
Boyett’s family water treatment is the best company for all the water you utilize in your aesthetic life and for your healthy living ‘even your business’.