Lead Poisoning and Public Water Contamination

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - March 25, 2016) -  Napoli Shkolnik PLLC has filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Michigan on behalf of Flint, Michigan residents Luke Waid and Michelle Rodriguez and their daughter Sophia against Governor Richard Dale Snyder, et al. last month.

The Flint water crisis made national headlines earlier in 2015 after the City of Flint switched to a new water source as a money-saving measure. Officials failed to treat the water as required under the Safe Drinking Water Act, and as a result lead from pipes have contaminated the water supply relied upon by nearly 100,000 residents. Thousands of families and their children continue to be exposed to dangerous levels of lead. The crisis in Michigan has raised awareness for water contamination issues surfacing throughout the United States as lead poisoning and water contamination continue to be a silent epidemic in the United States with cities all across the nation facing municipal water troubles.

Lead contamination has also been reported most recently in Newark, New Jersey where the Newark school district revealed that 12 percent of the water samples taken between 2012 and 2015 have had lead levels above the federal limit. Lead was found in the water at 30 schools.

Although Congress banned lead water pipes 30 years ago, between 3.3 million and 10 million older pipes remain, primed to leach lead into tap water by forces as simple as jostling during repairs or a change in water chemistry. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says streams tapped by water utilities serving a third of the population are not yet covered by clean-water laws that limit levels of toxic pollutants. Even purified water often travels to homes through pipes that are in stunning disrepair, potentially open to disease and pollutants.

Napoli Shkolnik PLLC has hired Washington lobbyists to push Congress to create a victim compensation fund for people affected by the Michigan city's contaminated drinking water.

About the firm

Napoli Shkolnik PLLC is a national litigation firm providing representation to victims of environmental contamination disasters, aviation accidents, defective prescriptions drugs and medical devices, asbestos-related illnesses, complex litigation and other serious personal injury matters. With their principal offices in New York City and additional offices in California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas and affiliates through the United States, Napoli Shkolnik PLLC is readily available to clients.