A Data Science Approach to Understanding Residential Water Contamination in Flint

When the residents of Flint learned that lead had contaminated their water system, the local government made water-testing kits available to them free of charge. The city government published the results of these tests, creating a valuable dataset that is key to understanding the causes and extent of the lead contamination event in Flint. This is the nation's largest dataset on lead in a municipal water system. In this paper, we predict the lead contamination for each household's water supply, and we study several related aspects of Flint's water troubles, many of which generalize well beyond this one city. For example, we show that elevated lead risks can be (weakly) predicted from observable home attributes. Then we explore the factors associated with elevated lead. These risk assessments were developed in part via a crowd sourced prediction challenge at the University of Michigan. To inform Flint residents of these assessments, they have been incorporated into a web and mobile application funded by \texttt{Google.org}. We also explore questions of self-selection in the residential testing program, examining which factors are linked to when and how frequently residents voluntarily sample their water.Comment: Applied Data Science track paper at KDD 2017. For associated promotional video, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g66ImaV8A

ActiveRemediation: The Search for Lead Pipes in Flint, Michigan

We detail our ongoing work in Flint, Michigan to detect pipes made of lead and other hazardous metals. After elevated levels of lead were detected in residents' drinking water, followed by an increase in blood lead levels in area children, the state and federal governments directed over $125 million to replace water service lines, the pipes connecting each home to the water system. In the absence of accurate records, and with the high cost of determining buried pipe materials, we put forth a number of predictive and procedural tools to aid in the search and removal of lead infrastructure. Alongside these statistical and machine learning approaches, we describe our interactions with government officials in recommending homes for both inspection and replacement, with a focus on the statistical model that adapts to incoming information. Finally, in light of discussions about increased spending on infrastructure development by the federal government, we explore how our approach generalizes beyond Flint to other municipalities nationwide.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, To appear in KDD 2018, For associated promotional video, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbIn_axYu9

The Relationship Between Grassroots Activism and Government Agencies Confronting Water Contamination in Marginalized Communities.

Overall, this research project seeks to understand the relationship between the grassroots movements fighting against corporate induced water contamination and government agencies responding to their concerns. How do these parties communicate currently and what factors provide context into how this flawed system can be modified in order to recognize and remedy the effects of environmental injustice in the United States

An American Reset – Safe Water & a Workable Model of Federalism

In 2015, at least 3.9 million Americans were exposed to lead in their drinking water at legally unacceptable levels. An additional 18 million Americans were at risk because their water systems were not in compliance with federal rules designed to detect the presence of lead contamination and to ameliorate its impact. What’s more, in 82 percent of the cases where the violation related to a health standard, no formal state or federal enforcement action was taken. These startling statistics indicate that the Flint Water Crisis (“Flint Water”) is not an isolated event. In fact, it is a case study that might explain these statistics. Flint Water reveals a fault line within our cooperative federalism model: We are relying on an increasingly ineffective power structure to guarantee the safety of our water supply, one that places the heaviest burden on the least powerful actor—the water supplier. This article proposes a ‘reset’ of the model in order to achieve safe water and government accountability

An American Reset – Safe Water & a Workable Model of Federalism

In 2015, at least 3.9 million Americans were exposed to lead in their drinking water at legally unacceptable levels. An additional 18 million Americans were at risk because their water systems were not in compliance with federal rules designed to detect the presence of lead contamination and to ameliorate its impact. What’s more, in 82 percent of the cases where the violation related to a health standard, no formal state or federal enforcement action was taken. These startling statistics indicate that the Flint Water Crisis (“Flint Water”) is not an isolated event. In fact, it is a case study that might explain these statistics. Flint Water reveals a fault line within our cooperative federalism model: We are relying on an increasingly ineffective power structure to guarantee the safety of our water supply, one that places the heaviest burden on the least powerful actor—the water supplier. This article proposes a ‘reset’ of the model in order to achieve safe water and government accountability

Adversity to Advantage: New Vacant Land Uses in Flint

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110962/1/adversity_to_advantage.pd