right here in the United States more
than 100,000 residents were exposed to
lead tainted water for months some for
years and when the news finally broke in
2016 the nation was shocked if you’re
anything like me you felt a lot of
different emotions when you heard about
Flint shock disbelief maybe even anger I
remember personally feeling upset and
really disturbed like how could this be
happening to American citizens I mean
don’t we have the best water in the
world so I wanted to dig past the
headlines and do something I wanted to
help like many people did so I actually
volunteered with the water filter
company now I’m a data scientist and a
graduate of Harvard University so
naturally my first task was research I
really wanted to understand water’s
impact on public health in the United
States and put Flint into some type of
historical context so I went back to
Harvard to pull data and pull data from
sources like the EPA and other research
institutions what I discovered was
really shocking there are actually three
thousand locations in the United States
with more lead in their water than Flint
Michigan
three thousand now the EPA will tell you
there is no such thing as a safe amount
of lead and drinking water the World
Health Organization will tell you that
the health effects from lead poisoning
are irreversible but yet there are
millions of Americans being exposed to
dangerous levels of lead in their water
every single day now the time let it’s
caused by problems with our crumbling
infrastructure corroding pipes are
really dangerous but there’s another
source of the contamination that we have
to be concerned about and that’s
industrial pollution so that’s what
happens when chemicals and toxins they
come out of the back end of a
manufacturing process and they end up
back in our local water supplies so
right here in the United States there
are 1.2 trillion gallons of toxic
chemicals that are produced and dumped
into our local water supplies every
single
this is not a third-world issue here in
the US there are actually 12 million
cases of waterborne disease every single
year in the US so it makes you wonder
the water that you drink that you cook
with that you bathe their children with
you can just take it for granted anymore
so there are chemicals in the water
things like chromium six
trichloroethylene perfluorooctanoic acid
say that three times fast and these big
chemical names probably don’t mean much
to you so I’m going to talk to you from
a more human level I’m gonna tell you
stories I’m gonna introduce you to a
couple of people and once you hear their
stories I’ve changed their names to
protect their privacy but their stories
are very real once you hear their
stories you’ll understand why you can no
longer take your water for granted so
let me introduce you to Bobby Bobby was
three years old when his mother began to
insist that the city of flint test the
water at their home because it had
started to change colors the family’s
hair had started to fall out so when
they got the test results back they
discovered that there were eight hundred
times more lead in that water than the
federally regulated limit that’s two
times more than what would be considered
toxic waste by this time the doctors had
confirmed that Bobby’s growth had been
stunted because of the lead exposure and
they moved away from Flint but to this
day Bobby is still significantly almost
half the size of his twin brother who
experienced a whole different set of
health problems but everybody was
shocked we all saw the headlines and
last year somebody made a movie about it
let me introduce you to Jennifer
Jennifer is 33 years old she has four
children and she has lupus
the first house sits almost directly on
top of an underground plume this is a
traveling mass of water underneath the
ground that’s contaminated with
chromium six now if that sounds familiar
to you
chromium six is the same chemical that
was made famous in the movie Erin
Brokovich almost eighteen years ago
Julia Roberts won an Oscar telling the
story about water causing cancer in the
California town of Hinkley that’s where
Jennifer lives now her family cannot
afford to move but despite global
headlines 333 million dollars that the
local industry was forced to pay and all
this attention 18 years later that local
water supply is still contaminated but
because it’s just below federal limits
they’re not required to do much more
about it and yet they already made a
movie about that someone will probably
make a sequel let me introduce you to
Hannah Hannah’s dad is a Marine Corps
officer so they lived on Camp Lejeune
that’s a Marine Corps Base in North
Carolina Hannah was born there she lived
her whole life there and she passed away
at the age of nine from leukemia as it
turns out over 900,000 servicemen and
their families who lived on that base
from 1955 to 1987 or exposed to
contamination from the water supply on
the marine corps base the government
recently released a report that
connected thousands of cases of diseases
and deaths to the local water supply
amazing horrifying things cancer the
bladder brain breast cervix colon
lymphoma leukemia Hodgkin’s disease and
the list goes on you probably didn’t
know that water could do such scary
things Hannah’s family certainly didn’t
know but somebody heard the story and
they made a movie about it now you may
be thinking well I’m really glad I don’t
live in Flint Michigan or hopefully
California or near an army base but as
it turns out this is a problem facing
all
Americans let me give you a fun fact the
Assistant Secretary of State actually
testified before the Department of
Defense last year and he said they’ve
identified four hundred army bases its
basic with that same chemical that took
Hannah’s life contaminating not just the
base but water supplies of people who
don’t live on the base the same chemical
that was found in Hinkley California in
the movie Erin Brokovich at about 150
other emerging contaminants have been
found in water systems across all 50
states
there is another 80,000 chemicals that
are approved to be used in industrial
processes and none of these are
regulated by the EPA this affects
everyone in this room every American
every major city and it causes us to ask
the question do we really know what’s in
our water do we know what we’re being
exposed to a lot of the problems if
they’re not coming from industrial
pollutants they are coming from an
infrastructure but guess what our
infrastructure is 100 years old in this
country it’s received a D rating from
the American Society of Civil Engineers
and the price tag to fix it over the
next 15 years would be about one
trillion dollars and this is money that
local governments I promise you they do
not have so if they’re not gonna do
anything about it that means we need to
because there’s a big gap between EPA
regulations and known health
recommendations in fact I’ve been
standing here talking to you about the
great American water crisis but we’re
actually facing the great global water
crisis Fortune magazine said water is –
the 21st century what oil was – the 20th
century that means that the next wars
and class conflicts that we face
globally many of them will be fought
over water
and as we all know when there’s a fight
over resources people of color
minorities and underserved communities
suffer the most
so yes I’m a data scientist I’m a
graduate of Harvard University I
received a fellowship from NASA for my
work in water quality data and research
but I’m also a human being and I’m a
visionary who had the audacity to
believe that I could create a solution
to help solve the grand global challenge
of water I envision a world where a
consumer can know what’s in their water
before they get sick so they can do
something about it I imagine a world
where consumers were corporations or
even governments could have access to
real-time water quality data so they
could predict and prevent a public
health crisis and so I created a company
to do just that and it’s called aqua
Genuity we use data to produce
technology driven solutions for the
water crisis the way it works is
something simple it’s a simple tool this
revolutionary I invented it’s called the
water score so the same way that you
check your weather forecast this thing
when you check your oil in your car so
you don’t tear it up the same way you
check your credit score now you can
check your water score what this means
is a consumer if you want to know what’s
in your water so you can take action
well now there’s an app for that I have
a simple little team of the smartest
people I know data scientists developers
phd’s policy professionals and experts
and we’ve come together to create
solutions that are driven by Big Data
artificial intelligence and predictive
analytics so we’re creating a world
where consumer they’re looking for a new
home they can search by traffic crime
schools well now for the first time you
can search by water quality we’re
envisioning and creating a world where
consumer is judged not just by their
stock price but by their water score
we’re creating a world where a smart
city is able to see real-time water
quality data so they can take action
before another crisis that’s why our
hashtag is prevent another foot and
because this is a global problem we’ve
been selected by coca-cola to work with
some of the biggest companies in the
world to help change the way consumers
corporations and smart
cities interact with their water but if
you don’t remember anything else that I
shared with you today I want you to
remember Bobby remember Jennifer
remember Hannah and remember Bernard my
father a few years ago he moved to a new
house in a small town after 72 years of
relative health he was suddenly
diagnosed with diabetes
now his lifestyle had not changed his
diet definitely had not changed in fact
the only thing that had changed was his
zip code now during all of my research I
came across an obscure report linking
arsenic and local water supplies to
diabetes but by this time his health had
taken a turn for the worst my father
actually passed away from kidney
complications last summer now how many
of us are being exposed to help risks
because of our water that could actually
shorten our life you don’t have to take
that risk anymore there’s simple steps
that you can take number one check your
water score I hope I’ve proven the case
that you can no longer just take your
water for granted or leave it up to the
government so take the time to check and
find out what’s in your water where you
live
number two find out what that means for
your health so when I share with you
that arsenic and local water supplies
has been linked to diabetes to cancer
that aluminum and water suppliers has
been linked to Alzheimer’s it causes you
to take action and number three find out
what type of water filter you need yes
you need a water filter and no they’re
not all the same so the water where you
live is not the same as the water where
I live there are no specific
contaminants in water that’s different
based on your zip code and other
geographic factors so find out which
filters are certified to remove the
contaminants where you live don’t wait
until yourself or a loved one get sick
or worse because of exposure to
contaminated water don’t wait until they
make a movie about your hometown check
your water score encourage your friends
and your family to do the same spread
the word help me
to spread the word so that every
consumer and smart city can safely
answer the question what’s in your water thank you
than 100,000 residents were exposed to
lead tainted water for months some for
years and when the news finally broke in
2016 the nation was shocked if you’re
anything like me you felt a lot of
different emotions when you heard about
Flint shock disbelief maybe even anger I
remember personally feeling upset and
really disturbed like how could this be
happening to American citizens I mean
don’t we have the best water in the
world so I wanted to dig past the
headlines and do something I wanted to
help like many people did so I actually
volunteered with the water filter
company now I’m a data scientist and a
graduate of Harvard University so
naturally my first task was research I
really wanted to understand water’s
impact on public health in the United
States and put Flint into some type of
historical context so I went back to
Harvard to pull data and pull data from
sources like the EPA and other research
institutions what I discovered was
really shocking there are actually three
thousand locations in the United States
with more lead in their water than Flint
Michigan
three thousand now the EPA will tell you
there is no such thing as a safe amount
of lead and drinking water the World
Health Organization will tell you that
the health effects from lead poisoning
are irreversible but yet there are
millions of Americans being exposed to
dangerous levels of lead in their water
every single day now the time let it’s
caused by problems with our crumbling
infrastructure corroding pipes are
really dangerous but there’s another
source of the contamination that we have
to be concerned about and that’s
industrial pollution so that’s what
happens when chemicals and toxins they
come out of the back end of a
manufacturing process and they end up
back in our local water supplies so
right here in the United States there
are 1.2 trillion gallons of toxic
chemicals that are produced and dumped
into our local water supplies every
single
this is not a third-world issue here in
the US there are actually 12 million
cases of waterborne disease every single
year in the US so it makes you wonder
the water that you drink that you cook
with that you bathe their children with
you can just take it for granted anymore
so there are chemicals in the water
things like chromium six
trichloroethylene perfluorooctanoic acid
say that three times fast and these big
chemical names probably don’t mean much
to you so I’m going to talk to you from
a more human level I’m gonna tell you
stories I’m gonna introduce you to a
couple of people and once you hear their
stories I’ve changed their names to
protect their privacy but their stories
are very real once you hear their
stories you’ll understand why you can no
longer take your water for granted so
let me introduce you to Bobby Bobby was
three years old when his mother began to
insist that the city of flint test the
water at their home because it had
started to change colors the family’s
hair had started to fall out so when
they got the test results back they
discovered that there were eight hundred
times more lead in that water than the
federally regulated limit that’s two
times more than what would be considered
toxic waste by this time the doctors had
confirmed that Bobby’s growth had been
stunted because of the lead exposure and
they moved away from Flint but to this
day Bobby is still significantly almost
half the size of his twin brother who
experienced a whole different set of
health problems but everybody was
shocked we all saw the headlines and
last year somebody made a movie about it
let me introduce you to Jennifer
Jennifer is 33 years old she has four
children and she has lupus
the first house sits almost directly on
top of an underground plume this is a
traveling mass of water underneath the
ground that’s contaminated with
chromium six now if that sounds familiar
to you
chromium six is the same chemical that
was made famous in the movie Erin
Brokovich almost eighteen years ago
Julia Roberts won an Oscar telling the
story about water causing cancer in the
California town of Hinkley that’s where
Jennifer lives now her family cannot
afford to move but despite global
headlines 333 million dollars that the
local industry was forced to pay and all
this attention 18 years later that local
water supply is still contaminated but
because it’s just below federal limits
they’re not required to do much more
about it and yet they already made a
movie about that someone will probably
make a sequel let me introduce you to
Hannah Hannah’s dad is a Marine Corps
officer so they lived on Camp Lejeune
that’s a Marine Corps Base in North
Carolina Hannah was born there she lived
her whole life there and she passed away
at the age of nine from leukemia as it
turns out over 900,000 servicemen and
their families who lived on that base
from 1955 to 1987 or exposed to
contamination from the water supply on
the marine corps base the government
recently released a report that
connected thousands of cases of diseases
and deaths to the local water supply
amazing horrifying things cancer the
bladder brain breast cervix colon
lymphoma leukemia Hodgkin’s disease and
the list goes on you probably didn’t
know that water could do such scary
things Hannah’s family certainly didn’t
know but somebody heard the story and
they made a movie about it now you may
be thinking well I’m really glad I don’t
live in Flint Michigan or hopefully
California or near an army base but as
it turns out this is a problem facing
all
Americans let me give you a fun fact the
Assistant Secretary of State actually
testified before the Department of
Defense last year and he said they’ve
identified four hundred army bases its
basic with that same chemical that took
Hannah’s life contaminating not just the
base but water supplies of people who
don’t live on the base the same chemical
that was found in Hinkley California in
the movie Erin Brokovich at about 150
other emerging contaminants have been
found in water systems across all 50
states
there is another 80,000 chemicals that
are approved to be used in industrial
processes and none of these are
regulated by the EPA this affects
everyone in this room every American
every major city and it causes us to ask
the question do we really know what’s in
our water do we know what we’re being
exposed to a lot of the problems if
they’re not coming from industrial
pollutants they are coming from an
infrastructure but guess what our
infrastructure is 100 years old in this
country it’s received a D rating from
the American Society of Civil Engineers
and the price tag to fix it over the
next 15 years would be about one
trillion dollars and this is money that
local governments I promise you they do
not have so if they’re not gonna do
anything about it that means we need to
because there’s a big gap between EPA
regulations and known health
recommendations in fact I’ve been
standing here talking to you about the
great American water crisis but we’re
actually facing the great global water
crisis Fortune magazine said water is –
the 21st century what oil was – the 20th
century that means that the next wars
and class conflicts that we face
globally many of them will be fought
over water
and as we all know when there’s a fight
over resources people of color
minorities and underserved communities
suffer the most
so yes I’m a data scientist I’m a
graduate of Harvard University I
received a fellowship from NASA for my
work in water quality data and research
but I’m also a human being and I’m a
visionary who had the audacity to
believe that I could create a solution
to help solve the grand global challenge
of water I envision a world where a
consumer can know what’s in their water
before they get sick so they can do
something about it I imagine a world
where consumers were corporations or
even governments could have access to
real-time water quality data so they
could predict and prevent a public
health crisis and so I created a company
to do just that and it’s called aqua
Genuity we use data to produce
technology driven solutions for the
water crisis the way it works is
something simple it’s a simple tool this
revolutionary I invented it’s called the
water score so the same way that you
check your weather forecast this thing
when you check your oil in your car so
you don’t tear it up the same way you
check your credit score now you can
check your water score what this means
is a consumer if you want to know what’s
in your water so you can take action
well now there’s an app for that I have
a simple little team of the smartest
people I know data scientists developers
phd’s policy professionals and experts
and we’ve come together to create
solutions that are driven by Big Data
artificial intelligence and predictive
analytics so we’re creating a world
where consumer they’re looking for a new
home they can search by traffic crime
schools well now for the first time you
can search by water quality we’re
envisioning and creating a world where
consumer is judged not just by their
stock price but by their water score
we’re creating a world where a smart
city is able to see real-time water
quality data so they can take action
before another crisis that’s why our
hashtag is prevent another foot and
because this is a global problem we’ve
been selected by coca-cola to work with
some of the biggest companies in the
world to help change the way consumers
corporations and smart
cities interact with their water but if
you don’t remember anything else that I
shared with you today I want you to
remember Bobby remember Jennifer
remember Hannah and remember Bernard my
father a few years ago he moved to a new
house in a small town after 72 years of
relative health he was suddenly
diagnosed with diabetes
now his lifestyle had not changed his
diet definitely had not changed in fact
the only thing that had changed was his
zip code now during all of my research I
came across an obscure report linking
arsenic and local water supplies to
diabetes but by this time his health had
taken a turn for the worst my father
actually passed away from kidney
complications last summer now how many
of us are being exposed to help risks
because of our water that could actually
shorten our life you don’t have to take
that risk anymore there’s simple steps
that you can take number one check your
water score I hope I’ve proven the case
that you can no longer just take your
water for granted or leave it up to the
government so take the time to check and
find out what’s in your water where you
live
number two find out what that means for
your health so when I share with you
that arsenic and local water supplies
has been linked to diabetes to cancer
that aluminum and water suppliers has
been linked to Alzheimer’s it causes you
to take action and number three find out
what type of water filter you need yes
you need a water filter and no they’re
not all the same so the water where you
live is not the same as the water where
I live there are no specific
contaminants in water that’s different
based on your zip code and other
geographic factors so find out which
filters are certified to remove the
contaminants where you live don’t wait
until yourself or a loved one get sick
or worse because of exposure to
contaminated water don’t wait until they
make a movie about your hometown check
your water score encourage your friends
and your family to do the same spread
the word help me
to spread the word so that every
consumer and smart city can safely
answer the question what’s in your water thank you
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