Flint's Water Crises: What Went Wrong

The Flint Water Crisis: What went wrong, article was written by Ryan Felton in January 16, 2016. The story of the article takes place in Flint, Michigan. The city of Flint experienced a crisis that has not been experienced in any other city across the nation. The article states that what happen in flint should not have happened, a city with 100,000 residents should not have to worry about poisoned water running into their homes. The water issue started when Flint appointed emergency manager Darnell Earley, decided to switch Flint’s water source form the city of Detroit to a local Flint River. This switched was aim to find a cheap alternative water source for the residents. However, what the officials failed to do was to test the water and see

There are two sides to this story, the government of Flint, MI and the people who reside

In her article, Flint Water Crisis, Dr. Mona Hann-Attisha, discusses the occurrence about highly elevated, possibly but not yet actually harmful levels of lead in the drinking water in Flint, Michigan, received national attention. She describes Flint, Michigan, was once a postindustrial home to flourishing automotive plants; the water crisis has been described as an example of government wrongdoing and disrepair by some and of a lack of omission by federal environmental regulators by others. She points to the tendency prior to a series of tests by independent researchers at Virginia Tech in October 2015, many residents found that their unease about the water’s taste, odor, and smell were being disregard intentionally by city and state officials,

The residents of Flint, Michigan had clear, drinkable water that anyone could use and drink, but the water started to become less and less consumable. Melisa Mays, a resident of Flint, claims that she broke out in rashes and developed a respiratory infection, which makes her cough up phlegm that taste like cleaning products. The Flint, Michigan Water Crisis began in April 2014, when the city of Flint changed their water source. Flint used to buy their water from Detroit, but due to the rising rates that were being charged for the water, Flint decided to switch its source to Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA), which created problems with Detroit (The Toxic Tap). Though Flint was changing its water source they had to wait due to pipeline construction, so Flint started using the Flint River as the primary source for municipal water until the pipeline construction was compete. The Flint River was not safe to use, which resulted in health problems in many of the residents of Flint, Michigan (The Water Quality). Though residents were being impacted, children were the ones who were exposed to greater dangers (Elevated Blood Lead Levels in Children Associated with the Flint Drinking Water Crisis).

The Flint water crisis has left no one from the damage, even the pets are getting sick of the poisoned water. That was what residents Lee and Ernie of Flint Michigan saw with their cat. Flint is a city in Michigan with a total population of approximately one hundred thousand residents. The issue with the water for Flints and its residents stated in 2014 when the city decided to switch from their water resource from the city of Detroit to a local river. Immediately after the switch residents filed complaints about the water’s smell and color. In Ryan Felton’s “Flint’s Water Crisis: What went wrong,” it is apparent that the crisis should not have happened, and that flint was neglected just because it was an impoverished city.

The American government makes many decisions, which are influenced by many things. Occasionally these policies work out, but some of these policies that do not have the attended effect on the country. The Americans that have get the bad side of these policies have to fight to be heard and have their daily lives drastically altered. A great example of the downside of interests creating policies is the Flint Michigan water crisis. This incident occurred because interests were held above the the ideas and institutions of the public.

Decisions made to save or make money are difficult to notice and promote change. In section 2 of “What Went Wrong In Flint”, the water change made by Darnell Earley, when water was bought from Detroit and pumped out of Lake Huron, a switch was decided to pump the water running through a cash-strapped city (Barry-Jester). Although the switch was a city vote the outcome could be in relation to the point that community members may ignore ethical implications and go directly to the reaction, “We need money–go for it!” (Minkler p.118). The result of this change was a payout of 1.5 million annually to the city’s general fund (Barry-Jester).This might have been approved because of the chance to save money without thinking of long-term issues that may surface. By not considering these issues the new pipeline was built through the city causing residents to notice foul smells and strange tastes in their drinking water (Barry-Jester). Water that was supposed

The people of Flint did not keep their mouths shut when they seen all the worrisome problems that popped up. Flint can thank one woman in particular for bringing the nation’s attention to what was happening. LeeAnne Walters is a thirty-seven year old mother of four who was not going to sit around while her family was withering away. She knew there was a serious problem not being dealt with in the summer of 2014. Her three-year-old twins got a rash when they had a bath. She could no longer leave them in the tub to soak. One of her twins had extreme reactions to the water. Gavin’s skin would become scaly and red where the water line stopped. Later her water turned brown and her family avoided tap water as much as possible. The twins got a bath in bottled water each week and bath with baby wipes the other days. Over time, the symptoms slowly disappeared (Lurie). Simple tasks like brushing their teeth, bathing, and cooking were incredibly complicated and expensive. Gavin and Garrett were not the only ones being affected. Her son had numerous trips to the hospital for abdominal pain, all the members of her family were losing hair, and at one point she lost her eyelashes. In January 2015, Flint declared that the city's water had dangerous levels of trihalomethanes. That came from the disinfectant that was supposed to treat the water. Exposure to these chemicals can cause liver, kidney, and nervous system

When people who lived in the city say they realized something was wrong the big guys kept saying there was nothing wrong and put it off for a whole month. President Obama had to claim a federal state of emergency on Flint, Michigan in 2014 because of the water that has been polluted by toxins and lead, but by the time the city officials realized something was wrong the pipes were already in too much damage (Kennedy/ npr). The City of flint is forty percent poor African American people, and this has put them in a giant crisis and when everything went down the people of Flint, Michigan went on strike (Kennedy/ npr). The polluted water was not fixed until April 6, 2018, this crisis lasted over four

The problem in Flint, Michigan was the residents came to the conclusion that iron found its way into their water supply and people began to panic at the sight of brownish water. In fear they went to city officials and to city police to figure out the problem. They receive all their tap water from the Flint River which is highly corrosive and the Department of Environmental quality was not treating the water with an anti-corrosion agent.

When looking at why the flint water crisis happened you must simply looked to who in the state government was running the water authority in flint. While as many people, especially in Flint, expecting who they voted for in the state elections to be their leader, this just simply didn’t happened. Through the workings of the very complicated subject of state governments and different legislations that took away power from the locals in Flint and gave that power to the state government. For anyone living in the United States, their directly elected officials should have protected them and many people see this as a failure of direct democracies that cities should have. This taking away of power from voters and put it into a govern office in which

In Flint, Michigan around a couple years ago decided on the worst decision to save money for the state. The state decided to earn money by switching from Detroit's Lake Huron to one of the Rivers most known for its filth, the Flint River. Residents were shocked at the sudden change and started getting worried, this, being long-term residents there it was a fear amoung them . Most were concerned whether it would be safe for the health of everyone due to the fact the the water looked brown until Former Flint Mayor Dayne Walling drank the brown water in front of everyone to prove a point in front local TV. One of them said, “‘You’re paying for poison. I’m paying for water that’s a toxic waste,’ Kelso said” (Ganim, Tran 1) after realizing that

Clean drinking water is a necessity in everybody’s life. Many cities take for granted their seemingly infinite amount of water available to them but for Flint, Michigan residents, there is no such luxury. Many people in that area have been sickened or even killed with the water that is available to them. Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan should resign due to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan because his negligence may have long and short term effects on the health of the city’s residents. There is no excuse for how he is handling this; slowly, and ineffectively.

The Flint water crisis is an issue that has been plaguing the state of Michigan for over two years and has no feasible end in sight. The neglect of various government officials and employees has culminated in a public health danger for thousands of Michigan residents, by way of consumption of water with high levels of lead. Though the individuals deemed responsible for this deplorable situation have lost or resigned from their positions, and some criminal charges have been brought about, there is still a lot that has to be done to try and repair the damage that they did.

I watch or read the news pretty regularly, but I only watch news which has the traits that I value most. The news to me isn’t about being entertained, it is about learning, in an unbiased, clear, and concise way. Other television shows can entertain, but the news should be reserved for information relevant to people’s everyday lives, allowing them to make informed decisions. I feel this way because I don’t like when a news source is pushing a hidden agenda. I look for a fair telling of both sides of the story. I also feel that because I stay relatively busy, I think it is insulting that the news would choose to waste my time with extraneous background information, off topic statements, or articles over 1,000 words. Most importantly though, It needs to be clear, if I can’t understand it, it’s the worst kind of news, no news. I have chosen three articles regarding the Flint Michigan water crisis to evaluate based on my criteria. One from CNN titled, “Water Crisis in Flint, Michigan, Draws Federal Investigation,” written by Greg Botelho, Sarah Jorgenson, & Joseph Netto, which focuses on the investigation but also background into the crisis. The next article I have chosen an article from the New York Times (NYT). This article titled, “As Water Problems Grew, Officials Belittled Complaints From Flint.” From the contributions of writers, Julia Bosman, Monica Davey, & Mitch Smith. I chose this article from other ones, because this article primarily focuses on politics like who