How Virginia Tech has affected Flint, Michigan

It’s not news to anyone at this point that Flint, Michigan is in the middle of a huge water crisis that has lasted years. This issue has been largely been picked up in the mass media, and even in the political realm.

While Flint, Michigan is geographically very far from Virginia Tech, one of the main supports of the people in Flint has been our university. Virginia Tech’s very own, Dr. Marc Edwards, a professor in the environmental and water resources engineering department, has been largely responsible for exposing this crisis.

Since September of 2015, Dr. Edwards has been leading a team of Ph.D. students in conducting analyses of water samples taken from over 200 households in Flint, Michigan. They soon found that the public water from the Flint River was contaminated with lead, and at times the lead level was almost double the considered safe limit by the EPA.

Taken by Caleb Govoruhk

Lead poisoning can cause serious health problems, including serious mental and physical impairments. Young children and senior citizens are at an increased risk of having these symptoms due to impaired immune systems, which is why this crisis is so dangerous.

Virginia Tech researchers have been working to sample as many homes as possible in Flint, and then resample them a few months later to see if there were any changes. Dr. Edwards has also been appointed to the Michigan governor’s Flint Water Interagency Coordinating Committee to help advise on the issue.

“The overarching goal of our research team is to recommend changes to the lead and copper rule so that the loop-holes are closed, and then utilities follow it,” said Anurag Mantha, a doctorial student working as part of the Flint research team.

The lead and cooper rule is the rule that requires lead levels in water to be less than 15 parts per billion, and yet the levels in Flint were averaging around 26.7 parts per billion.

Taken by Caleb Govoruhk

While the VT research team is limited in what they can do to help Flint residents besides make them aware of the situation, other Virginia Tech students have taken it into their own hands to make a difference

A team of Virginia Tech students, put together by the Equity and Inclusions Board of the Student Government Association, drove over eight hours to spend a weekend in Flint, bringing along flats of bottled water to distribute to the residents. One of those on the trip shared her experience with me.

“A woman saw my VT sweatshirt while we were at one of the churches we volunteered at. She came up to me with tears in her eyes and told me that if I ever meet Marc Edwards to tell him how very thankful she is for his work,” said Rebecca Choate, a sophomore Public Relations major at Virginia Tech.

Taken By Rebecca Choate

The water continues to be undrinkable in Flint, Michigan, but the support from the Virginia Tech community will not be ending any time soon.

“There is a difference between simply hearing about a disaster like this and making the effort to go and experience it first-hand. I hope that I have the opportunity to visit Flint again very soon”, said Caleb Govoruhk, a student writer for the Collegiate Times at Virginia Tech, who was also on the weekend trip to Flint.