LeeAnne Walters, Citizen Scientist Who Helped Expose the Flint Water Crisis
LeeAnne Walters is a citizen scientist and environmental activist from Flint, Michigan, who catalyzed local, state, and federal action for clean water.
The Walters’ tap water ran a rainbow of colors from “light yellow to nasty, dark-looking cooking grease.” She and her family suffered an array of symptoms: her three-year-old twins developing rashes, one twin stopped growing, her daughter’s hair coming out in clumps, LeeAnne’s eyelashes falling out, and the worst, her 14-year-old son suffering severe abdominal pains that had him hospitalized. She decided to take action.
Although Flint River had been an industrial dumping ground for over 75 years, in April 2014, a state-appointed emergency manager switched the city’s water source from Detroit’s water system, sourced from Lake Huron, to the Flint River to try to cut costs. Residents almost immediately noticed their water turn orange-brown, but city officials did not test the water until four months later. They, then, found E. coli.
Changing Flint’s water source would cause its residents irreparable damage, including long-term neurological consequences for the city’s children.
LeeAnne informed the city of her dirty water, but it took them two months to send someone to test the water. Tests revealed that lead levels in her drinking water were at 104 parts per billion (ppb), with the maximum allowed by the EPA being 15 ppb. Lead is a neurotoxin, which can damage the brain and nervous system, slow growth and development, cause learning delays, behavior, speech, and hearing problems, and lower IQ. Despite the evidence she presented, the city insisted that the water was safe, and only her home was experiencing this contamination.
In January 2015, Flint officials issued a warning about high levels of trihalomethanes, which are the byproduct of a disinfectant used to treat the water that can cause liver, kidney, and nervous system problems. They warned the sick and elderly should not drink the water, but otherwise, it was safe. That was when she went to her first city council meeting.
Residents came armed with bottles of brown water from their taps and cited symptoms that many of them had experienced, such as hair, memory, and vision loss. Flint officials did not take their concerns seriously and claimed that they were spiking their own water to gain attention. When Walters called a nurse in the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, concerned about her son’s pre-existing health problems might be exacerbated by lead exposure, the nurse told her “It’s just a few IQ points. It’s not the end of the world.”
Originally trained as a Medical Assistant, Walters taught herself about water chemistry, public works, and environmental health. Looking through historical water data, she uncovered that the water from the Flint River was highly corrosive, and the city had not been implementing adequate corrosion controls like applying standard chemicals to prevent lead from pipes leaking into the water supply.
She began canvassing her community and reached out to the EPA for help. Walters called Miguel Del Toral, a manager at the EPA’s Midwest water division, who reached out to Professor Marc Edwards, an expert in lead corrosion at Virginia Tech. Walters collected water samples from each zip code in Flint, working over 100 hours per week for nearly a month. She found levels as high as 13,200 ppb, more than twice the level the EPA classifies as hazardous waste.
“We proved that citizens and scientists working together could form a great alliance, and that grass-roots science can have a sky-high impact.” — LeeAnne Walters
With their research, advocacy, and public pressure, in October 2015, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder declared a national emergency and that the water was unsafe to drink. The city then switched back to the Detroit water source.
Walters’ efforts helped expose the Flint water crisis to the rest of the nation, give her neighbors answers about their health and safety, and drove the government to take action so Flint residents could access clean water. She received the PEN America’s Freedom of Expression Courage Award in 2016 and the Goldman Prize in 2018.
A collaboration between the Environmental Justice Coalition and Rediscover STEAM.
