Report: 6mn Americans have lead-tainted water in homes, schools Some six million Americans have drinking water tainted with higher levels of lead than allowed by US federal guidelines, the USA Today reported on Thursday. With the nation focused on a major crisis in Flint, Michigan, where lead from aging pipes leached into the municipal water supply, the newspaper launched an investigation which found higher than acceptable lead levels in about 2,000 water systems across the United States. FILE IMAGES of Flint water crisis