Nation’s water infrastructure is a public health crisis, Dr. Mona to tell Congress

A pediatrician in Flint, MI recently discovered alarming amounts of lead in the blood of her patients. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that no level of lead present in the blood would be considered safe, and that it can lead to many health threatening and developmental issues in children. This discovery has led her to believe that this issue is more widespread than just her hometown, and points to a larger issue across the nation’s water infrastructure. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha has a meeting scheduled for April 29th to speak with a congressional committee, which falls soon after Joe Biden spoke about his American Jobs Plan. This plan includes a $111 billion budget to improve the nation’s water systems. This would mean removing lead pipes, which Dr. Hanna-Attisha believes could be a public health crisis based on her findings in Flint. The majority of lead pipes left are concentrated in the Midwest and Northeast. Dr. Hanna-Attisha’s findings led to the state changing its source of water from the Flint river, which was improperly treated and may have been transferring lead into the drinking water, to Lake Huron.