The pilot project in 2018 engaged fifteen students ages 16-18 in a 6-week program, creating trust among the residents with whom they worked. This citizen science tis helping those residents feel more secure in managing the water in their own homes.
The program continues as youth at the McKenzie Patrice Croom Community Lab work alongside a chemist and lab tech to learn the process of testing water at a molecular level. After school programs that include career preparation have been recognized as the most engaging to high school aged participants. While working in the lab, youth are learning about careers in science, technology, and mathematics (STEM) that they did not know about previously. These youth are also learning about laws and policies as they are being prepared to be the advocates of the future. The experience of participating in the Water Lab Program at Flint Development Center, provides the high school students a way to heal and help other youth that experienced trauma from the Flint Water Crisis, as well as reducing future youth from being exposed to high lead in water.
College students are participating in the program as Lab Technicians, learning how to process and analyze drinking water samples using sophisticated equipment and technology. This hands-on experience provides valuable and practical experience for future jobs and enhances academics. The Lab Technicians are working closely with the high school students to train on how to properly collect water samples, and assist with other laboratory work.
Bringing together the high school and college students has many additional benefits, bringing a better understanding of the impact of the Flint Water Crisis and exposure to diversity of people from a variety of backgrounds.
Community Outreach Coordinator, Dominique Strong has experience coordinating a diverse set of community projects, the main goal of which has been to create a sense of belonging. She was employed as a Certified Nursing Assistant from 2015 to early 2020 and maintains her certification. She founded her own nonprofit organization focused on community outreach in 2017. Dominique is a graduate of the University of Michigan-Flint, with a bachelor’s degree in applied science, with a concentration in English and Social Work and has an Associate’s degree in Computer Occupation Technology from Mott Community College.
Principal Chemist, Alexandria Schipansky was born and raised in the Flint-Metro Area. She will complete her Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Biology in December 2020. Alex has spent several years working in a variety of laboratory settings focused on analytical chemistry. She has completed advanced training in equipment operation and various health and safety protocols, working in university-based laboratory settings throughout Michigan.
Quality Assurance and Quality Control For The McKenzie Patrice Croom Flint Community Lab
The Flint Community Water Lab — the first community-based laboratory of its kind in the world — provides Flint residents with a trusted resource for free water testing for lead and other metals.
The Flint Lab is operated and run by Flint residents, high school and college students, providing important education and citizen science opportunities that promote STEM education, exposure to technical career opportunities, and workforce development. In addition to Flint-wide water testing, the Flint Community Lab serves as a hub for resident outreach and access to social services to promote public health and healing while restoring public confidence in tap water in individual homes.
The Flint Community Water Lab has developed written protocols and is adopting a formal quality assurance/quality control program based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) Quality Assurance Project Plan guidelines for collecting and analyzing drinking water samples. The analytical methodology employed is based on the U.S. EPA method for the analysis of lead and other metals in drinking water (EPA M. 200.8: Determination of Trace Elements in Waters and Wastes by Inductively-Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry). Flint Community Lab staff are receiving training from ThermoFisher Scientific in equipment operation to conduct the analysis. Routine field- and laboratory-quality controls and regular blind proficiency testing will provide checks to ensure that the information and results provided to community members are reliable, precise, and accurate.
Individual data and testing results are considered private information and will only be shared with the community member. Where permission is granted, results from the program may be reported in summary form to share overall findings with the community. The results from the Flint Community Lab are for informational purposes to help residents make decisions about filtration and use of their tap water. Results may not be used for legal purposes or compliance with regulatory requirements.
As part of the learning and technical training program, the Flint Community Lab will pursue U.S. EPA certification for lead testing over the next 18-24 months following the determination of a laboratory method detection limit (MDL) and successful completion of proficiency testing.