In 2014, the city of Flint, by then under the direct control of the state of Michigan since 2011, in an effort to save money while a new pipeline was under construction, had its water supply switched from that of a treated reservoir to water from the Flint River. Due to a pH difference – the river water being more acidic – the lead solder in the old pipes began to leach out into the water flowing into homes, schools, and businesses throughout the city.
When it comes to environmental disasters in the United States, few can match the mess that was made in Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene Mining District—the “Silver Valley”—between 1885 to 1981. Indeed, to this day, and likely for decades to come, nearly a century of unrestrained lead, zinc, and silver mining in this once magnificently forested part of the western U.S. will leave the region’s land and people to bear the burden of an untold host of problems.