Failed infrastructure and economic decline resulted in the toxic levels of lead in the city's water supply. A corrosive water source was introduced "into an aging water system without adequate corrosion control." Per Larry Clark, Sustainable Performance Solutions LLC, consulting professionals such as "professional engineers, licensed plumbers, or water-treatment specialists" could have had a positive impact on the outcome. In addition to professional consultation, EPA reform would help prevent another<unk> . Current water-testing techniques can underestimate water lead levels because sampling is sometimes concentrated on neighborhoods with known low lead levels or lead-free pipes. EPA reform could enforce rules that "ensure that all cities get an early warning when lead levels rise to the danger point.", said Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Upholding the Clean Water Act passed in 1972 would have prevented an outbreak of lead poisoning in<unk> . This act "established the basic structure for regulating pollutant discharges into the waters of the United States". The EPA has also updated its standards and created six goals for improving the drinking water of the nation. This plan was created in November 2016 to decrease the amount of pollution in water. Using point-of-use (POU) devices could prevent lead exposure. A study at the University of Arizona, Tucson used the<unk> , Michigan water crisis to illustrate the economic benefits of utilizing three specific POU devices, which included reverse osmosis, activated carbon, and distillation. Many factors such as "POU device costs, lead absorption from water, and economic losses associated with reduced IQ" were taken into account to determine the cost-benefit of each device. The study found that the water lead level breakeven points for reverse osmosis, activated carbon, and distillation were 7.31 µg/L, 3.73 µg/L, and 12.0 µg/L, respectively. The cost-benefit was analyzed as a 70-year (lifetime) duration, which is much longer than the<unk> , but these POU devices could still serve to be a valuable tool in preventing the consumption of water-soluble lead in the future. Using predictive models could be another invaluable way to help prevent another crisis like the one in<unk> . Many municipalities across the country have outdated or incomplete records on their water service line materials, and governments have finite resources to identify and fix the problem of lead lines. In<unk> , it is clear that a data-driven approach allowed public money to be spent more efficiently in ways that directly align with public health protection. Because the public (utility-owned) portion of service lines is buried under roads and sidewalks, it is expensive to verify pipe materials. Depending on the verification method, it can range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars per home.<unk>  spent more than $20 million on unnecessary excavations when it ignored model predictions in 2018, instead of targeting homes with the highest likelihood of having a lead service line. This could have been largely avoided with the continued use of the machine learning model developed in 2016.
Flint water crisis
Newark water crisis
Diabetic ketoacidosis
Water intoxication
Serkal syndrome
Alcoholic ketoacidosis
Waterhouse–Friderichsen syndrome
Hyperosmolar syndrome