Flint’s latest problem? People aren’t using enough water

Associated Press

LANSING, Mich.

Flint residents who have grown accustomed to using bottled water and avoiding the faucet are getting new instructions: Turn on the taps.

The conundrum, expert Marc Edwards said Tuesday, is that residents afraid of using the water aren’t running enough of it to rid the system of toxic lead. People aren’t showering as much, are leery of drinking or cooking with tap water even with faucet filters, and don’t want to pay higher bills for water they’re not using, despite the state’s helping to offset rates.

But that’s slowing efforts to clean out lead deposits and effectively recoat the pipes and plumbing to make them safe again, said Edwards, a Virginia Tech professor who helped expose the problem in Flint. Though lead levels are lower, he said without more water use, it could take months or even years to rid the system of contamination.

“We’ve got to get more water flowing through the system,” he said Tuesday in Blacksburg, Va.