The water in Flint, Michigan is missing a critical ingredient - here's what should and shouldn't be in your drinking water
The lead-poisoning crisis plaguing Flint, Michigan might have you wondering: If tap water can be so dangerous, what's in the stuff I'm drinking?
The now-famous city began drawing its water - which it initially sourced from Detroit - from the Flint River in 2014 to save money. But the water from Flint was highly corrosive, causing it to begin leaching the lead from the town's outdated plumbing system into the water.
Special ingredients like orthophosphates can be added to the water supply to keep this from happening, but the city failed to include them.
Lead tests on the city's tap supply have shown levels of the toxic metal ranging from 27 parts per billion - close to double the 15 ppb amount that's considered a cause for concern by the EPA - to an exceedingly high 158 ppb.
While most drinking water should have little-to-no lead, it has a surprising number of other added ingredients - most of which actually make it safe to drink. Take a look:
