Water: Exploring the state of water in Flint and Philadelphia

Guests: Ron Fonger, Charles Haas, Gary Burlingame, Marc Edwards

Residents usually don’t think twice about turning on the tap at the sink and watching the water pour out. In Flint that’s changed since residents started seeing brown polluted water with high lead levels. Concerns have also recently been raised about the quality of Philadelphia’s water and water testing methods. In this hour we’ll talk about water: what’s happening in Flint and what’s happening in Philadelphia. We’ll get an update on what’s happening now in Flint with veteran Michigan reporter RON FONGER, who works for The Flint Journal and MLive. Then we’ll be joined in-studio by Drexel University’s CHARLES HAAS, who studies the treatment of water and wastewater to minimize risks to human health; and by GARY BURLINGAME, an Environmental Scientist with the Philadelphia Water Department. We’ll also talk about criticism of water testing methods used in Philadelphia with MARC EDWARDS, a civil engineering professor at Virginia Tech who helped uncover the lead contamination in the water in Flint.