Flint Water Crisis

The Flint water crisis is a drinking water contamination crisis in Flint Michigan, United States, that started in April 2014. After Flint changed its water source from treated Lake Huron water (via Detroit) to the Flint River, its drinking water had a series of problems that culminated with lead contamination, creating a serious public health danger. The corrosive Flint River water caused lead from aging pipes to leach into the water supply, causing extremely elevated levels of lead. As a result, between 6,000 and 12,000 residents had severely high levels of lead in the blood and experienced a range of serious health problems. The water change is also a possible cause of an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in the county that has killed 10 people and affected another 77.