WASHINGTON -- Unfiltered tap water in Flint, Michigan, is still unsafe for drinking, but a team of researchers said this week they can find no scientific reason not to use it for bathing.
Citing his own research, actor Mark Ruffalo has said Flint residents shouldn't trust earlier government assurances that the water is safe for washing because of chemicals like chloroform, which is a byproduct of chlorine disinfection.
"The news is pretty good when it comes to disinfection byproducts -- they're really not all that high," said David Reckhow, a water expert and professor of civil engineering with the University of Massachusetts Amherst, at a press conference in Flint on Tuesday.
Reckhow joined Wayne State University's Shawn McElmurry and Virginia Tech's Marc Edwards and Amy Pruden in Flint to publicize their analysis of water samples their teams had recently taken from local homes.
Some residents say the water is causing rashes and hair loss, but the scientists said their data shows that the amount of disinfection byproducts in Flint's water is comparable to that of other cities.
Yet the water still has too much lead, a deadly neurotoxin used in water pipes in Flint and hundreds of other American cities. When Flint changed its water source from Detroit to the Flint River in 2014, it failed to treat the new water to prevent it from corroding the pipes, resulting in more lead in the water and in Flint children's bodies.
Lead exposure at a young age can cause permanent brain damage and lifelong behavioral problems, though exposure hasn't been associated with skin problems.
The city switched back to using Detroit's water system in October, but lead levels haven't declined enough yet. Some Flint residents have continued to say the water is hurting their skin.
Water Defense, a nonprofit Ruffalo founded that usually focuses on groundwater contamination, came to Flint in January and said it had detected dangerous levels of disinfection byproducts in Flint bathtubs -- chemicals the group claimed the government had missed because it was overly focused on lead. (The government does, in fact, require water systems to test for disinfection byproducts like chloroform.)
Water Defense's Scott Smith claimed the WaterBug, a sponge product he invented using his own proprietary foam technology, could better detect the contaminants in Flint's water. The company that makes the foam previously told The Huffington Post that Smith gets royalties on sales of the material.
Reckhow said WaterBugs were "not vetted at all" prior to their introduction in Flint, and also questioned Water Defense's sampling methods, saying the contaminants detected by WaterBugs could have come from household air rather than water.
"In order to do due diligence as a scientist, you really need to have a control," Reckhow said, adding that the nonprofit should have devoted a separate sponge to test the air.
Virginia Tech's Edwards helped expose the Flint water crisis last year by independently testing water samples for lead with a team of grad students and local volunteers. He has harshly criticized Ruffalo and Water Defense on the blog he set up to post sample results last year.
If Flint residents don't want to use their water for bathing, Edwards said, they should make that decision independently of anything Water Defense has claimed.
"You have to look at the credibility of the people making these claims," Edwards said. "They don't have a science background."
Ruffalo and Smith did not respond to a request for comment.
We discuss the safety of the water in Flint, Michigan on the So That Happened podcast this week. The conversation begins at 25:25.