US water crisis
The problems that the US city of Flint had with its water were just the first drip in a wider problem, finds Sarah Houlton
The US city of Flint, Michigan, has been suffering from unclean and unsafe water since 2014. Discolouration and a bad smell were the first problems noticed, and the more serious problem of high lead was only discovered after almost a year. Although a change in the source of the water started the problem, the underlying blame lay in the old lead water pipes themselves. These potentially dangerous pieces of infrastructure are common across the US, but fixing them will be expensive.