Marc Edwards (professor) explained

Marc Edwards
Nationality:American
Alma Mater:State University of New York at Buffalo
University of Washington
Occupation:Professor
Employer:Virginia Tech
Education:State University of New York at Buffalo (B.S.)
University of Washington (M.S., Ph.D.)
Known For:Water-supply safety and engineering
Charles P. Lunsford Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Term:August 23, 2004–present
Predecessor:Clifford Randall
Boards:Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (president, 2001–2005)
Children:2
Awards:MacArthur Fellow, 2007
Outstanding Faculty Award, 2007
Praxis Award in Professional Ethics, 2010

Marc Edwards (born 1964) is a civil engineering/environmental engineer and the Charles Edward Via Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech.[1] An expert on water treatment and corrosion, Edwards's research on elevated lead levels in Washington, DC's municipal water supply gained national attention, changed the city's recommendations on water use in homes with lead service pipes, and caused the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to admit to publishing a report so rife with errors that a congressional investigation called it "scientifically indefensible." He is considered one of the world's leading experts in water corrosion in home plumbing, and a nationally recognized expert on copper corrosion.[2] He is also one of the whistleblowers in the Flint water crisis, along with Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha.

Edwards was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2007.[3] The program cited him for "playing a vital role in ensuring the safety of drinking water and in exposing deteriorating water-delivery infrastructure in America’s largest cities."[3] In 2004, Time magazine featured him as one of the United States' most innovative scientists.[4]

Biography

Edwards, a native of the Buffalo, New York area, received a Bachelor of Science degree in biophysics from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1986.[3] He received his Master of Science in 1988 and his Ph.D. in engineering in 1991 from the University of Washington.[3]

Edwards taught at the University of Colorado at Boulder.[3] In 1997, he joined the faculty of Virginia Tech's department of civil and environmental engineering. From 2001 to 2005, he served as president of the board of directors for the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors.[5] He delivered Virginia Tech's Graduate School Commencement address on December 19, 2008.[6]

He lives with his wife Jui-Ling and their two children in Blacksburg, Virginia.[7]

(2003 - 2010) Lead levels in Washington, DC water supply

Edwards's research in the mid-1990s focused on an increasing incidence of pinhole leaks in copper water pipes. Homeowners contacted him about the leaks, some of which were occurring 18 months after installation.[7] After a century of using copper for water pipes, the expectation is that they will last for 50 years in residential applications.[7] The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (WASA) funded Edwards's research into the cause of the leaks.[8]

A group of Washington, DC homeowners asked Edwards to investigate their corroding copper pipes in March 2003. Suspecting the water, he tested for lead. The accepted limit for lead in drinking water is 15 parts per billion (ppb). Edwards's meter, which could read values up to 140 ppb, showed off-the-scale readings even after he had diluted the sample to ten percent of its original strength.[7] The water contained at least 1,250 ppb of lead.[4] "Some of it would literally have to be classified as a hazardous waste," he said.[7] At the time, WASA recommended that customers in areas served by lead pipes allow the water to run for 30 seconds to one minute as a precaution.[7] Edwards's tests showed that the highest lead levels occurred 30 seconds to a few minutes after the tap was opened.[7]

When Edwards brought his concerns to WASA, the agency threatened to withhold future monitoring data and research funding from him unless he stopped working with the homeowners.[7] The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) discontinued its subcontract with him.[7] With his funding cut off, Edwards paid his engineering students out of his own pocket so that they could continue the research.[7]

After the Washington Post ran front-page stories in January 2004 about the problem, a Congressional hearing was held in March 2004 where Edwards testified.[7] [9] At the hearing, Edwards identified the cause of the readings as monochloramine, a disinfecting chemical that had replaced chlorine in the water supply in March 2000.[7] Chloramine-treated water, he said, picks up lead from pipes and solder and does not release it, resulting in elevated levels.[8] Chloramine also doesn't break down over time, as chlorine does, so there is always some in the water system.[10] Edwards also testified that WASA's attempts to replace lead pipes with copper pipes could exacerbate the problem, because the copper increases corrosion of the old lead.[9]

Following the discontinuation of chloramine treatment in 2004, Edwards and his colleagues continued to study the long-term effects of the elevated water lead levels;[11] their article "Elevated Blood Lead in Young Children Due to Lead-Contaminated Drinking Water," published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, won that publication's Editor's Choice Award for the best science paper of 2009.[12]

Referring to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that essentially dismissed the idea of health risks from DC's lead-contaminated water, Edwards wrote to James Stephens, the CDC's associate director of science: "Why is it that every child I have personal knowledge of, who had a strong chance of having elevated blood lead from water, is either deleted or otherwise misrepresented in the data that CDC has and used for this publication?"[13] Edwards did not receive a response until March 2008, when Stephens wrote "We have examined CDC's role in the study and have found no evidence of misconduct."[13]

As a result of Edwards's research, the United States House of Representatives' science and technology subcommittee conducted a congressional investigation into the matter. They concluded that the CDC made "scientifically indefensible" claims that the lead levels in DC were not harmful, knowingly using flawed data.[14] In the wake of the investigation, Edwards called for the CDC paper's senior author to resign.[14] The day after the House report was released, the CDC released a public statement admitting to their errors.[15] James Elder, former national director of groundwater and drinking water for the EPA, said "Had Edwards not gotten involved, this would never have come out."[15]

In 2010, the CDC said that 15,000 homes in the DC area might still have water supplies with dangerous levels of lead.[16] Following Edwards's recommendation, the DC water authority now warns homeowners with lead water-supply lines to let the tap run for ten minutes before drinking or cooking.[4]

During his work on the Washington water quality, said Bill Knocke, head of Virginia Tech's civil and environmental engineering department, Edwards was so concerned about the public health impact that he was hospitalized due to the stress.[17]

(2004-2014) Notable Projects

In 2006, Edwards suggested that the EPA testing procedure for lead in tap water could miss elevated levels because it called for homeowners to remove the aerator from their faucet before drawing water for testing. The screen in the aerator, he said, could trap lead particles; if so, water drawn for testing would not reflect the full lead exposure experienced by people drinking from the faucet under normal use.[18]

In 2007, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill hired Edwards to investigate water-quality problems in three buildings. (When UNC asked its engineering faculty for guidance, their response was "We have two words for you—Marc Edwards.")[19] He found "low-grade and fixable" lead contamination, which he blamed on "lead-free" brass plumbing fixtures.[20] According to Edwards, Federal regulations permit up to 8 percent lead in "lead-free" brass fixtures, which can leach from the fixtures if the water is corrosive.[20] He says that the Federal standard uses a water formulation that is remarkably tame compared to actual water supplies, allowing such fixtures to pass lead-leaching tests.[19] Edwards provided a solution to UNC's problem: Accelerate the leaching of the lead by running each faucet at full flow for ten minutes, and then leaving it open at a trickle for three days, after which most of the lead had leached out.[19]

In a 2008 radio interview, Edwards noted that the United States has over five million lead water pipes, many of which are nearing the end of their useful life.[21] "In some cases, you can take a single glass of water," he said, "and if you're unlucky, and it has that piece of lead in it, you can get a very high dose of lead, similar to that which you could obtain by eating lead paint chips."[21]

During the Society of Environmental Journalists' 2008 annual meeting, the group was given a tour of Edwards's lab. He told them that the number one cause of waterborne disease outbreaks in the United States is pathogens growing in home water heaters.[22] Energy-conscious households may set their water heater's thermostat to 120F, but that temperature encourages the growth of microbes such as mycobacteria.[22] A setting of 140F would kill such organisms.[22] Edwards says that infections from inhaling steam from contaminated water in the shower, or contact with contaminated water in a hot tub, kill an estimated 3,000 to 12,000 Americans each year.[22]

Responding to a 2009 Associated Press investigation of contaminants found in the drinking water of schools across the United States, Edwards was quoted as saying "If a landlord doesn't tell a tenant about lead paint in an apartment, he can go to jail. But we have no system to make people follow the rules to keep school children safe?"[23]

Edwards has also warned about the unintended effects of state-of-the-art water conservation techniques being used in new buildings. Systems such as rainwater capture and water recycling, he says, may reduce the flow of water from the city's system so much that the water remains in the plumbing for as much as three weeks before use.[24] This can cause the water to pick up lead and grow bacteria.[24] He has called for a more holistic approach to water quality monitoring.[24]

In 2011, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Public Health Law Research Program funded a $450,000 study of the 1991 Lead and Copper Rule, an EPA regulation relating to drinking water. Edwards will spearhead the study.[25]

(2015 - present) Flint water crisis

See main article: article.

In September, 2015, after receiving a call from Flint, Michigan citizen, LeeAnne Walters, Edwards formed a water study team and traveled to Flint, Michigan to perform a study that uncovered high levels of lead in potable water. The city's water source had been switched from the Detroit water system to the Flint River in 2014, exposing over 100,000 people to high lead levels and affecting up to 12,000 people with lead poisoning.[26] [27] [28]

Edwards' initiative inspired Mona Hanna-Attisha, a Flint public health advocate and pediatrician, to perform her own study on Flint’s children that found that the lead levels in their blood increased as a result of the water source switch.[29] Edwards and Hanna-Attisha's results caused the City of Flint, the State of Michigan and the United States to declare a state of emergency.[30]

In early 2016, Edwards testified twice before the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on the crisis,[31] [32] and was appointed to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's Flint Water Interagency Coordinating Committee, to alleviate problems related to the water crisis.[33]

In 2016, Edwards gave an interview to The Chronicle of Higher Education arguing for scientists to work in the public interest.[34]

In July 2018, Edwards filed a $3 million defamation lawsuit against Flint mother Melissa Mays and two other activists Paul Schwartz and Yanna Lambrinidou. The lawsuit came in the wake of the Flintcomplaints.com letter, signed by over 60 Flint residents, expressing certain grievances with Edwards. On March 19, 2019, the case was dismissed by Judge Michael F. Urbanski, the Chief Judge for the Western District of Virginia, ruling that Edwards could not use litigation to silence criticism and advance scientific claims. The ruling noted, "the Flint water crisis is a paradigmatic example of a matter of public concern where the freedom to call for an ‘investigation’ into the activities of those in positions of significant persuasive power and influence is essential.”[35]

On November 7, 2019, Edwards was interviewed on Detroit's NPR station, WDET in Season 2 of the station's podcast series titled, "Created Equal," which focused on the people involved with the Flint Water Crisis.[36]

(2019 - present) Notable projects

In 2019, Edwards headed a Virginia Tech research team to investigate elevated salt levels in water wells on 100 farms in Fishers Landing, NY.[37]

Awards and honors

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Welcome to the homepage of Marc Edwards . Faculty . Virginia Tech . Blacksburg, VA . May 19, 2011 . June 15, 2011 .
  2. Web site: Pinhole Leaks in Copper Pipes . Research . Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission . June 15, 2011 . Laurel, MD . https://web.archive.org/web/20110520192115/http://www.wsscwater.com/home//jsp/content/pinholescroll.faces . May 20, 2011 . dead .
  3. Web site: Marc Edwards . MacArthur Fellows 2007 . John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation . September 2007 . Chicago . June 15, 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111027075140/http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.2913825/apps/nl/content2.asp?content_id=&notoc=1 . October 27, 2011 .
  4. The Plumbing Professor: getting the lead out . https://web.archive.org/web/20040408111839/http://www.time.com/time/2004/innovators/200404/edwards.html . dead . April 8, 2004 . August . Melissa . April 12, 2004 . Time . New York . June 15, 2011.
  5. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20050223222422/http://aeesp.org/org/management.html . February 23, 2005 . AEESP Management . AEESP.org . Association of Engineering and Science Professors .
  6. Edwards, Marc. December 19, 2008 . Marc Edwards speaks at Virginia Tech's 2008 Fall Graduate School Commencement . https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/ujSIfsSc_ks . 2021-12-15 . live. YouTube. Virginia Tech . Blacksburg, VA . June 15, 2011 .
  7. The Water Guy . Prism . November 2004 . 14 . 3 . Home-Douglas . Pierre . June 15, 2011 . American Society for Engineering Education . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110915195413/http://www.prism-magazine.org/nov04/feature_water.cfm . September 15, 2011 .
  8. Book: Vesilind, P. Aarne . Engineering Peace and Justice: The responsibility of engineers to society . Springer . 2009 . 978-1-84882-673-1 . 141–142 . New York .
  9. News: No Easy Fix For Water: Scientist says new lines could make lead worse . Cella . Matthew . The Washington Times . March 6, 2004 . A09 . News World Communications.
  10. News: Disinfectant linked to lead in D.C. used in Greenville . Zacher . Jason . The Greenville News . Greenville, SC . April 6, 2004 . A1 .
  11. Elevated Blood Lead in Young Children Due to Lead-Contaminated Drinking Water: Washington, DC, 2001−2004 . Edwards . Marc . Triantafyllidou . Simoni . Best . Best . Environmental Science and Technology . 2009 . 43 . 5 . 1618–1623 . 10.1021/es802789w . American Chemical Society . 19350944 . 2009EnST...43.1618E .
  12. News: R&D Briefs . The Roanoke Times (Blue Ridge Business Journal) . Roanoke, VA . March 22, 2010 . BRBJ11 . The Roanoke Times .
  13. Web site: Health agency covered up lead harm . Renner . Rebecca . April 10, 2009 . Salon . Salon Media Group . June 15, 2011 .
  14. News: CDC misled District residents about lead levels in water, House probe finds . Leonnig . Carol D. . May 20, 2010 . The Washington Post . Washington, DC . June 15, 2011.
  15. News: Virginia Tech professor uncovered truth about lead in D.C. water . McCartney . Robert . May 23, 2010 . The Washington Post . Washington, DC . June 15, 2011.
  16. News: Study of D.C. water sharpens understanding of lead threat . Brown . David . The Washington Post . December 11, 2010 . June 15, 2011.
  17. News: Outstanding Faculty Awards to be Presented to 12 Today . Esposito . Greg . The Roanoke Times . Roanoke, VA . February 8, 2007 . B3 .
  18. News: Looking out for lead (Editorial) . News & Observer . Raleigh, NC . July 9, 2006 .
  19. Lead-free? Faucets are anything but . Raloff . Janet . ScienceNews . October 30, 2008 . Society for Science & The Public . June 15, 2011.
  20. News: UNC-CH finds lead in three buildings . Clabby . Catherine . News & Observer . Raleigh, NC . May 12, 2007 .
  21. Lead in our drinking water . National Driller . January 2008 . 29 . 1 . 73 . BNP Media.
  22. The Case for Very Hot Water . Raloff . Janet . ScienceNews . October 23, 2008 . Society for Science & The Public . June 15, 2011.
  23. News: Study: Unsafe Toxins Found in Drinking Water at Thousands of U.S. Schools . Associated Press . September 25, 2009 . June 15, 2011 . Fox News .
  24. News: United States: Water and health subject of panel . TendersInfo News . June 6, 2010 . Euclid Infotech.
  25. Marc Edwards to head $450,000 study to identify lead risks in drinking water . June 15, 2011 . January 4, 2011 . Blacksburg, VA . Virginia Tech .
  26. Steve Carmody, Virginia Tech ending Flint water investigation, Michigan Radio (January 11, 2016).
  27. Web site: The Water Next Time: Professor Who Helped Expose Crisis in Flint Says Public Science Is Broken . Kolowich . Steve . The Chronicle of Higher Education . 2 February 2016 . 2016-02-03 .
  28. News: The heroic professor who helped uncover the Flint lead water crisis has been asked to fix it . Itkowitz . Colby . Washington Post . 2016-02-03 .
  29. Web site: D'Angelo. Chris. How A Stubborn Pediatrician Forced The State To Take Flint's Water Crisis Seriously. . 21 January 2016 .
  30. News: Egan. Paul. President Obama declares emergency in Flint.
  31. http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2016/02/former_em_removed_from_witness.html Former EM removed from witness list for Congressional hearing on Flint water
  32. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ex-epa-official-defends-agency%e2%80%99s-work-in-flint-water-crisis-at-capitol-hill-hearing/ar-BBquJJu?ocid=spartandhp Ex-EPA official defends agency’s work in Flint water crisis at Capitol Hill hearing
  33. Ron Fonger, Gov. Snyder signs executive order to create new Flint water committee, The Flint Journal via MLive (January 11, 2016).
  34. Web site: The Water Next Time: Professor Who Helped Expose Crisis in Flint Says Public Science Is Broken. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
  35. Web site: Edwards v. Schwartz Case 7:18-cv-00378-MFU.
  36. Web site: Created Equal, Season 2: Marc Edwards. 2020-06-14. wdet.org. 7 November 2019 . en.
  37. Web site: NETWORK. Kyle BagenstoseUSA TODAY. Small town pins water woes on road salt. 2020-09-08. Sault Ste. Marie Evening News - Sault Ste. Marie, MI. en.
  38. Web site: The Charles Edward Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. www.webapps.cee.vt.edu. 2018-02-20.
  39. Web site: Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prizes ASCE. www.asce.org. 2018-02-20.
  40. Web site: Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prizes ASCE Past Award Winners. www.asce.org. 2018-02-20.
  41. Web site: Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) AEESP. aeesp.org. en. 2018-02-20.
  42. Web site: Virginia Tech's Marc Edwards named MacArthur Fellow . Sriwiriyarat . Tongchai . October 26, 2007 . The Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering . Virginia Tech . June 15, 2011 .
  43. Web site: Dr. Marc Edwards will receive Villanova's 2010 Praxis Award in Professional Ethics . Moen . Estela . January 7, 2010 . The Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering . Virginia Tech . June 15, 2011 .
  44. Web site: ARCADIS / AEESP Frontier in Research Award AEESP. aeesp.org. en. 2018-02-20.
  45. Web site: AEESP Award for Outstanding Contribution to Environmental Engineering and Science Education AEESP. aeesp.org. en. 2018-02-20.
  46. Web site: ASCE Honors Two with President's Medal ASCE News. news.asce.org. en-US. 2018-02-20.
  47. Web site: Flint water leaders Mona Hanna-Attisha and Marc Edwards to deliver University Commencement address. Owczarski. Mark. April 17, 2016. www.vtnews.vt.edu. Virginia Tech. January 21, 2017.
  48. Web site: Time 100 - Pioneers: Marc Edwards and Mona Hanna-Attisha. Maddow. Rachel. April 21, 2016. www.time.com. January 21, 2017.
  49. Web site: 'Time' 2016 Person of the Year Short List: Here are the nominees and their chances. Lutz. Eric. December 5, 2016. www.mic.com. January 21, 2017.
  50. Web site: American Ingenuity Award Winners 2016 . Smithsonian Magazine . Smithsonian . 15 October 2018.
  51. Web site: Marc Edwards and Shuhai Xiao named as Virginia Outstanding Scientists for 2017. Lindsey Haugh and. Steven Mackay. February 9, 2017. www.vtnews.vt.edu. February 10, 2017.
  52. Web site: Marc Edwards receives inaugural award from MIT Media Lab for work in Flint, Michigan. Haugh. Lindsey. July 21, 2017. www.vtnews.vt.edu.
  53. Buckley, Bruce (April 13, 2017). "Clean Water Warrior Wins 2017 ENR Award of Excellence." ENR.com. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
  54. Web site: Marc Edwards receives 2018 AAAS Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award. EurekAlert!. en. 2018-02-20.
  55. News: Marc Edwards receives Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award. 2018-02-20. en.
  56. Web site: Marc Edwards honored with Hoover Humanitarian Medal. www.vtnews.vt.edu. en. 2020-04-12.