Is Bill Ballenger Right? Is Flint Water More Of A Hoax

Yesterday longtime political pundit and founder of Inside

Susan Dumas

Michigan Politics  Bill Ballenger was erroneously fired from the organization he founded by a left leaning reporter who may know how to "tell" a story but doesn't seem to not know a thing about class and free press she supposedly now runs.

Susan Dumas, whom many say slant's

Bill Ballenger

her stories to the left and took over Inside Michigan Politics over a year ago when Ballenger sold it, decided to fire Ballenger over statements he made on the Flint Water crisis, calling it perhaps a great hoax.  I thought we had freedom of speech which includes opinon under the first amendment.  Surely Ms. Dumas understands the first amendment which guarantees not only freedom of speech, but of press?

Well today, independent from Bill Ballenger, information has surfaced from Kettering University that may back up Ballenger's claim that this is actually a hoax because the media and the left are making this into a bigger story than what it actually is. 

Make no mistake, some have been poisoned by lead and we find any lead poisoning of innocent children and their families deplorable but it is time to look at the real facts.

According to Kettering University's President's findings that he put into a letter to students and faculty  he wrote with citations below:

Roughly 2% of all individuals tested in Flint have shown elevated blood lead levels.(1)

• Twenty-three {23} children younger than age six tested in Flint show elevated blood levels of lead.(2)

o Children under the age of 5-6 are the most vulnerable population with respect to the long-term health effects of lead; in the U.S., 535,000 children under the age of 5 have elevated blood lead levels high enough to damage their health.(3)

• A total of 43 of 2182 of people tested in Flint show elevated blood levels of lead.(4)

In a letter to Kettering Families the President of Kettering University, Robert K McMahan wrote the following excerpts:

 I also want to clarify that the water from the Flint River that was used as the city’s water source from April 2014 through October 2015 was not contaminated with lead. The contamination, where it occurred, was due primarily to interactions between treated river water and lead supply lines in the distribution system, particularly in lead lines connecting individual houses to local water mains. This is not a global problem with the water, but a problem with how that water - after treatment - interacted with some pipes and other elements of the city’s distribution system.

This interaction was often (considerably) different - even house-by-house on a single block.

I also think it important for us to recognize that this problem is widespread and in fact is not isolated to Flint. (5) For example, I am sad to report, drinking water supply contamination, in some cases at levels far worse than have been found in Flint, has been found in Washington D.C., Seattle, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles among other cities and areas of the country. (6) In Michigan, elevated blood-lead levels have been found in an even higher percentage of children.

Human skin does not absorb lead in water, so bathing, washing, or showering is safe even using water containing lead over the EPA’s action level. (7) (8) Adults may safely use unfiltered water for brushing their teeth.(9)

You may see pictures of bottles of rusty or cloudy water in articles on water safety; the same has been true of the reporting surrounding the water crisis in Flint.The presence of suspended rust in water can turn it orange, red, brown or yellow. The presence of rust in water is not an indication of the presence of lead or other contaminants in the water, nor does it necessarily indicate that the water is unsafe to drink (10) In water, lead is colorless, odorless, and tasteless, (11) and the presence of rust in water does not indicate the presence of lead, bacteria, or other substances.

Lead Is Colorless And Tasteless
The different colored water is from another problem not caused
by the Flint Water System.  Perhaps even
 altered by user for financial gain.

 Trapped air (in the form of small bubbles) in the water can also turn it cloudy or milky. Water pipelines are pressurized systems, so any air introduced into the system can remain trapped until the water leaves a faucet.

This cloudiness is not indicator of water quality.

**Clarification - Some have read that Kettering University is supporting Bill Ballenger's statement.  This writer is merely tying the facts on two stories together.   Kettering University is not coming to Bill Ballenger's defense however their letter to students and faculty add's creedence to Bill Ballenger's statement. 

This writer believes Bill Ballenger has the right under the 1st amendment to state what he believes whether it is opinon, theory or actual fact.

****Update: Bill Ballenger clarifies his statement in response to a reader on my Facebook Page- "The proposition that there is some contamination in Flint drinking water, including lead, is not a hoax, but the contention that this is the greatest man-made Michigan catastrophe of recent times, as portrayed in the MSM, IS a hoax ... Read the report of highly-regarded Kettering University, alma mater of GM CEO Mary Barra ......"

Quite frankly based on the information we have found, shared and cited, this writer couldn't agree more with Ballenger.

1 http://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/Flint_Blood_Testing_Report_December_23_509464_7.pdf

2 http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2016/01/43_flint_residents_identified.html

3 http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/infographic.htm

4 ibid.

5 http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/leadinwater/

6 ibid., http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5312a6.htm, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/

content/article/2009/08/03/AR2009080303003.html, and

http://www.yaleseas.com/watersymposium/pdfs/EdwardsLeadPaper.pdf

7 http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/tips/water.htm

8 http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,4561,7-135-3313_3675_73946-372051--,00.html

9 http://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/2015-10-21_-_Lead_-_Flint_Water_FINAL_504265_7.pdf

10 http://www.quincyma.gov/CityOfQuincy_Content/documents/RustyWaterFactSheet.pdf

11 http://extension.psu.edu/natural-resources/water/drinking-water/water-testing/pollutants/lead-in-drinking-water