We all know the terrible water crisis in Flint, Michigan. I’m wondering, is this also affecting Michigan Universities, such as U Mich? I got in but I am scared to go to a school with poisoned water. Any thoughts? Has the school taken any special precautions?
Lol no, it’s not affecting us at all. Flint is quite a distance away from Ann Arbor
The Flint water crisis isn’t affecting any communities outside of Flint.
I was asking because of the possibility of the crisis spreading to other cities
Lol. It is not a contagious disease. By the way, the Detroit public school district problem also has little impact to UMich.
Okay thanks guys
Ann Arbor does not use any lead piping in its municipal system, and has an independent water system with advanced filtration and even diesel backup power. Water source is a combination of wells and the Huron River (one of the cleanest urban rivers in the US) .Homes, including old ones usually rented to students, generally use copper or PVC pipes. The only possibility of lead contamination is from a) solder used on pipes prior to the 80’s (now mostly covered with scale) and b) lead from brass fittings inside old faucets.
You can get more information from the water quality report on this page:
http://www.a2gov.org/departments/water-treatment/Pages/default.aspx
As an FYI the university has water bottle refill stations (filtered water) scattered throughout campus.
Flint is a older city with lots of old infrastructure who did nothing to upgrade their pipes. Nearby Lansing, the state capital only about 50 miles from Flint, has replaced nearly all of its lead pipes (over 10,000) systematically over the last 10 years, funded by the local utility, with no fuss.
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2016/01/22/lead-water-line-removal/79108766/
This is the best addition, thank you for all the resources and intelligent input! Now I can be more calm 
No, there’s no possible way it could “spread.” It has to do with the switch to river water in Flint and Flint only, and the state’s decision to save money by not adding an anti-corrosive agent to the water supply. Without the anti-corrosive agent, lead from the source pipes leaches into the water.
let me say this I saw a picture of what was supposed to be a cross section of several pipes removed from flint. they were so nasty , filled with all kinds of goock,crud,goo, weird color stuff…the lead is just like problem number 10 or 15. maybe lots of water systems are like that maybe not. but I can not believe pipes like those are only in flint or that nobody knew prior to the last year or so. so maybe ann arbor has a more modern updated pipe system , water treatment system etc… but I do not think you need to worry about cross contamination between the two cities. you need to be concerned about what the water department in ann arbor is doing and what they are working with and if people in charge know what they are doing and actually care…
Just buy bottled water.
No, don’t buy bottled water; it’s a rip-off… Ann Arbor’s public water supply system is well managed and perfectly safe, well below regulatory limits for all contaminants. Read more here:
http://www.a2gov.org/departments/water-treatment/Documents/2013%20CCR.pdf
If you have access to a high quality public water supply like Ann Arbor’s, there’s no reason to assume bottled water will be any cleaner or safer. It’s not as if bottled water is held to some higher regulatory standard; it isn’t. About 1/4 of bottled water is just tap water from wherever the bottling plant is located. If it’s sold as “spring water,” that just means it’s groundwater pumped from an aquifer that supports a spring somewhere; the bottled water doesn’t need to come from the actual spring to be sold as “spring water,” it just needs to come from the same groundwater aquifer as the spring. And that aquifer may be clean or not so clean. In at least one case, groundwater pumped at an abandoned industrial facility was sold as “spring water” and the FDA ruled that was “not misleading” because the groundwater sometimes bubbled to the surface at the edge of the parking lot, so that made it a “spring.” If it’s marketed as “pure spring water,” that adds nothing; the term “pure” is considered “puffery,” i.e., just an inflated claim that no one is expected to take seriously.
It hasn’t been established that bottled water is, on average, “cleaner” or “purer” than the tap water most people in this country have access to. Of course, there are special cases like Flint where the public water supply is dangerous, and bottled water is clearly a preferred option. Bottled water may also be higher quality than private well water in many rural areas where agricultural chemicals or other contaminants are in the groundwater, and if you travel abroad, bottled water is indeed cleaner than tap water in many parts of the world. But most places in the U.S., you’re just throwing money away if you buy bottled water. You’re better off getting a good, sturdy water bottle and refilling it every morning.
I agree with your remarks bclintonk. After reading the OP’s fears of Michigan water, I just assumed he/she would be happiest drinking bottle water…much of it produced, by the way, right here in Michigan.
Filters only slightly improve the taste of Ann Arbor water. It’s quite good. The best tasting water in Michigan comes from the Northwest side of the LP, IMO where it percs through hundreds of feet of sand.