Flint
Michigan, USA
In Flint, MI, researchers from the Urban Collaboratory have partnered with community members to support grassroots efforts to increase access to safe drinking water.
About Flint
Flint, MI, is located approximately an hour’s drive from Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Lansing. Home to the University of Michigan - Flint, the city was a key player in the auto industry for many years.
Flint was thrown into the public eye in 2015 when news broke that water contained unhealthy levels of lead. This announcement, which spurred the Flint Mayor to declare a State of Emergency in the city (and then president Barack Obama to do the same) came following months of advocacy by community residents who experienced detrimental health impacts.
- Population: 96,448 (July 2018 estimate)
- Area: 33.42 square miles
- Median Household Income: $26,330
- Poverty Rate: 41.2%
"I am so grateful that the University of Michigan Urban Collaboratory has worked so hard helping educate Flint residents to properly use the Point of Use filters that have become a great part of our everyday lives."
Rochelle M. Kelly
Family Navigator, Genessee Health System, Flint Resident
Related Projects
in Flint
Principal Investigators in Flint
Nancy Love PhD, BCEE, PE
Principal Investigator
Co-Founder
Borchardt and Glysson Collegiate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Dr. Nancy G. Love is the Borchardt and Glysson Collegiate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Michigan. She previously served as chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and as Associate Dean in the University of Michigan’s Rackham School of Graduate Studies. She previously taught at Virginia Tech.
Dr. Love’s research interests include water quality and environmental biotechnology. Specifically, she studies the fate of toxins and pharmaceuticals in wastewater, as well as the technologies that can be used to remove these chemical stressors.
Dr. Love holds a PhD in Environmental Systems Engineering from Clemson University (1994) and both a Masters of Science (1986) and a Bachelors of Science (1984) in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Recent Projects
+ Point of Use Water Filters: A Grassroots Train-the-Trainer Program
Shawn McElmurry PhD
Co-Principal Investigator
Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Wayne State University
Dr. Shawn P. McElmurry is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Wayne State University in Detroit. He received his PhD in Environmental Engineering from Michigan State University and is a licensed Professional Engineer. Since joining Wayne State he has received significant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and National Science Foundation (NSF), and State of Michigan and published more than 30 peer-reviewed journal articles. Dr. McElmurry teaches graduate and undergraduate courses focused on environmental engineering and water systems. His research aims to address fundamental gaps in understanding which inhibit sustainable development and adversely impact human health, with a special interest in water infrastructure. Recently, Dr. McElmurry’s work has focused on understanding the complex interactions between exposure to chemicals and pathogens in Flint’s municipal water system. He is co-leader of the Flint Area Community Health and Environment Partnership (FACHEP), a multi-institutional collaboration formed to evaluate associations between changes in Flint’s water system and adverse public health impacts. Building on lessons from Flint, Dr. McElmurry’s current focus is on how water and health systems learn and adapt to challenges, with the goal of enhanced system and community resilience.
Recent Projects
+ Point of Use Water Filters: A Grassroots Train-the-Trainer Program