In Gresham, Oregon, city officials recently conducted tests on water samples from several homes in the area.

They conduct these tests at least 2x a year and each time they test at least 70 different homes, with the water samples being taken by the homeowners themselves voluntarily.

Of those that they recently tested, at least 8 of the homes were flagged for having been found with high amounts of lead in the sample.

Whenever the samples are found to suggest that perhaps more than 10 percent of the homes might be above action level, which is 15 ppb (parts per billion) then city officials are required to report that information to the public.

For those who were found to have water samples that concerned the Oregon Health Authority collective, they've since been instructed on what they can do to try and address the matter. And unfortunately, Oregon isn't the only area where people might want to be concerned about the quality of their water.

Concerning amounts of lead have also been found in schools throughout Ohio, New York, Missouri, Michigan, California, and elsewhere.

Dozens of public water systems around the US have also been found to have radium that is above the federal legal limit which is suggested to increase the risk of cancer, among fueling other health concerns.

In 2016, the CDC said that they were considering lowering (by roughly 30 percent) their threshold for lead found in childhood blood levels. And it's also been recently alleged that perhaps millions of children who were tested for lead poisoning since 2014, might have been given false results that indicated low levels.

It's suggested that there might be as many as 7 million tests that could be wrong.

The CDC has advised that for those who are worried they might have received false information that they should seek to be screened again for lead.

The media might have thought that the situation in Flint was bad, but unfortunately it isn't isolated to that area. There are thousands of neighborhoods in the US where children have been found to have blood lead levels that are more than double those found in Flint.

Solutions

One 12-year-old scientist by the name of Gitanjali Rao recently won the award for America's Top Young Scientist for her invention of a cheaper way to test for lead in water.

She came up with a 3D printed device, known as Tethys, that can test for water contamination by using carbon nanotubes together with a mobile app. And it can be done in less than 10 seconds.

Inspired by the recent water crisis in Flint, Rao sought to try and come up with a solution. And for this invention she was awarded $25,000 and hopes that one day this device will be available to all families who need it.

Some other students (grade 7 and 8) from Canada are also looking to come up with a solution to the problem as well. Their idea, The Royal Flush is a contraption that can automatically flush water from taps every 30 minutes in order to try and lower lead levels.

It's not only a problem in the US, as hundreds of schools and schools in Canada have also been found to have water samples test above federal limits. Their device sets itself apart from the competition on the market because the flusher is based on temperature and not time.

Pics:
Pixabay
Pixabay
Andy King/Discovery Education via CNBC
Andrew Francis Wallace/Tor Star

Sources:
http://www.pamplinmedia.com/go/42-news/383367-271729-elevated-levels-of-lead-found-in-water-of-8-gresham-homes
https://patch.com/oregon/gresham/tests-find-lead-water-high-risk-gresham-homes-city-says
https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/35417/20180111/with-salt-and-lead-in-their-water-jefferson-county-residents-want-answers-and-accountability
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2018/01/05/flint-water-schools/109179472/
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/flint-lead-pipes-1.4467181
http://www.kentucky.com/news/business/article193106759.html
http://www.newsweek.com/radioactive-water-can-cause-cancer-plagues-half-americans-says-environmental-778248
https://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2018/01/10/lead-in-the-drinking-fountain-california-schools-must-now-test-for-it/
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2018/01/10/health-experts-warn-fallout-magellan-meridian-recall/1007785001/
http://wtnh.com/2017/12/20/cdc-issues-warning-regarding-lead/
https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-01-06/childhood-lead-poisoning-remains-widespread-problem-america
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/10/this-12-year-old-won-25000-for-a-gadget-that-helps-detect-lead.html
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/12/21/toronto-students-invention-aims-to-solve-lead-in-water-issue.html
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/10/06/more-than-640-ontario-schools-and-daycares-fail-lead-tests-in-the-past-two-years.html

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