Issues In Flint Case Study

In a bid to curb the heavy metals such as lead from reaching the resident’s drinking water, the city’s water treatment plants should modify its water’s chemistry. This is done in order to lower its capability of corroding the pipes through a process known as corrosion control. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality will ensure that Flint City has a corrosion control program established. The new water supply being put in place should have the corrosion control plan to ensure that they are not conducting an uncontrolled human experiment on a city’s

Who knew that Flints water could be deadly? Everyone should be allowed to have the same clean water to bathe in, drink, cook with, and to have fun in. Unfortunately, residents in Flint could not do this for quite some time. These residents were bathing and drinking from this water before the founding of high lead levels in it. Not only was it because of the high lead levels, but the pipes were very old as well. Due to actions made by the city council this caused a lot of problems for the residents in the city of Flint. This effected children, pregnant women, and the elderly the most. Many lawsuits were filed against the city of Flint. It was so serious to the point that Governor Snyder had to declare a state of emergency. This took place January 5th of 2016. High levels of lead in the water and old pipes lead to lawsuits, the sickness of Flint residents, and the city of Flint not doing their job.

According to Data USA, the population of Flint Michigan in 2014 was 99,802. 41.2% of the population in Flint, MI live below the poverty line, a number that high higher than the national average of 14.7%. Households in Flint, have a median annual income of $24,862 which is less than the median annual income in the United States. 61.1% of the population is black or African American. (Data USA, 2015). A third of the population live in poverty and a sixth of the houses are even abandoned. Flint River, Flint Michigan’s primary water source has been known to be of poor quality, having a history of contamination from fecal coliform bacteria, low dissolved oxygen, plants nutrients, and toxic substances. In 2001 there was 134 state ordered

The current water crisis in Flint, Michigan stems from government officials changing water sources. The government of Flint switched from using the water of Lake Huron, which they had used for over 50 years, to using the water of the Flint River, which had a high level of chloride. The high chloride level eventually led to the corrosion of water pipes allowing unhealthy levels of chlorine and lead contamination. Additionally, irresponsible and unreliable water treatment allowed even more contaminates to enter the city’s water source. All this pollution ultimately ended up in the homes of thousands of people, poisoning families throughout the city. Lead poisoning can have disastrous effects on the human body, with some symptoms including “memory loss, anemia (lack of healthy red blood cells), kidney dysfunction, and in severe

    “The scale of government neglect in the water crisis in Flint, Michigan , could place the city along some of most infamous environmental disasters in U.S. history”-Lenny Bernstein.

“In September, Virginia Tech researchers released a report saying Flint's water was creating a health threat in old homes that have lead pipes or pipes fused with lead solder. And doctors last week reported high levels of lead in local children's blood samples, also blaming water pipes” (CBSNEWS). Lead is a serious problem as it may cause a serious damage in different organs of the body especially the brain and it is the most known neurotoxin. However, knowing that lead is the source of the problem is an important piece of information which can facilitate reaching the source of lead leaching. In fact, many cities have lead pipes, not only Flint city, and when water sits in those pipes, the lead can leech into the water. So cities usually add corrosion-control chemicals, such as phosphates (PO4), to keep the lead out of the water. However, Flint did not take into account these precautions, and this was a major contributor to the high lead levels and, consequently, health problems, “the public health protection was gone,” Edwards says. (ALANA SEMUELS, 29 Jul. 2015). If we talked about the reason why the water in Flint’s River is difficult to treat, it turns out that it contains high levels of coliform and fecal coliform bacteria. But what makes it more difficult than Lake Huron water is that the Flint River is subject to temperature changes, rain events and high carbon content. An additional indication, is the increased level of trihalomethanes (TTHM), a byproduct of the large amount of chlorine needed to kill bacteria in the river water. For the most part, specific amounts of chlorine are used to treat river water, but the problem is that low levels of chlorine can produce coliform bacteria and, on the other hand, high levels of chlorine may result in Disinfectant Byproducts (DBP), which, in turn, may lead to elevated levels of

Flint Water Crisis, independent professionals reported testing the drinking water and what was found that there is lead and it was leaching into the main water supply. Contaminated water with lead and iron may be the most intense image of environmental and social injustice. Flint, Michigan, is amongst the poorest in the U.S. and majority African American, since 2014(npr.org 2016). The citizens of Flint had been complaining that their tap water was foul and discolored and had an odd taste. Nonetheless city, state, and federal officials ignored the issue. It has been stated that by changing the Flint water pipeline back to Lake Huron will not rectify the damage, investigators and many researchers believe that it may not be possible to ever undo

Back in April 2014, Flint Michigan, switched its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. The government believed that this would be a great idea, because by them making this big switch they begin to start saving a lot of money. The new water that they now use is very polluted. This is the water that each and every person in Flint depends on to drink, cook with and to also bathe in. A lot of people have been affected by this change in water supply. As things begin to worsen the people in Flint, started to hear and become very familiar to lead poisoning. A significant amount of their victims have fallen victim to to being affected by the contaminated water, that everyone has been using. Doctors have noticed that the amount of lead found

The Flint Water Crisis began in April 2014 when the city switched its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River as a cost-saving measure. However, several environmental disasters (from automakers, chemical, coal and agriculture industries) over the course of century played a systemic role in contamination of the Flint River for a prolonged period of time, leading to this current tragedy [Wahowiak,2016]. In 2011 a study found that in order for the Flint River water to be considered potable, it would need to be treated with an anti-corrosion agent which would cost the state about hundred dollars per day and could have prevented ninty percent of Flint’s water problems [Silverman]. However, in 2014, the water source was switched to the Flint River without any pre-water treatment. The switch was meant to be a temporary solution until the state-run supply line to Lake Huron was ready for connection in about two years.

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

The economy of Flint, Michigan has went into a down ward spiral after this giant tragedy and owes alot of money. Research shows, “In April 2014, Flint switched its water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River to save money but did not properly treat the water, which corroded the city’s aging pipes and allowed lead to leach into the system. The city made the switch in an effort to save roughly five million dollars” (Sanburn). This decision did not work out too well for the people of Flint, because not only did it hurt peoples health it also costed the economy

coli was also found in the town’s water supply and residents were advised to to boil their water before using it. Because of extremely unsafe and tainted water, Flint was found to have violated the Safe Water Drinking Act. In February of 2015, the water has been found containing high amounts of lead, “...with a lead content of 104 parts per billion. Fifteen parts per billion is the limit for lead in drinking water." Residents start to complain of lead poisoning and many fall sick. The water now being considered “hazardous waste.” Despite being told this, officials deny that there is anything wrong with the water and insist that a standard water filter makes the water safe to use. Karen Weaver, mayor of Flint, declares a state of emergency. President Barack Obama chimes in and also declares a state of emergency and FEMA is sent in as well as Federal funding to pay for clean water supplies. Criminal charges are filed against three officials: Stephen Busch, Michael Prysby, and Michael Glasgow. The three are charged with misconduct, neglect of duty and conspiracy to tamper with evidence, and have been charged with violating Michigan's Safe Drinking Water Act. An additional six officials are later charged, as well as two corporations who were in charge of water quality

When the contamination in Flint’s water system was noticed, it was because of the “smell, taste, and color.” (The Humanist 23) The water pipes were deteriorating because of the polluted water, which was causing lead to flow into the water. People immediately started complaining to their city’s mayor about the changes in the water. Soon after that, scientists from Virginia Tech discovered it was severe lead in the water. Lead poison is known to destroy or affect almost every organ or system in someone’s body. (The Humanist 23)

Flint, Michigan has a population of just over 10,000, 36.2% of its population is under the poverty line, and this isn’t even the worse of its problems. Since 2014, the residences of Flint Michigan have been cheated, lied to, and poisoned, all at the hands of its own government. Most consider the governor of Flint, Jerry Ambrose, to be the main culprit. He ignored research that proved Flint’s water was toxic to the body, and then went on to lie to the general population about the safety of the water, Michigan is settled between 4 of the largest freshwater lakes in the world, a fact that served them little in the crisis to come.

According to documentary “poison water” by Nova “Since the late 1950s, G.M. closed seven major facilities in the region. Tens of thousands of jobs were lost. In 2011, with the city close to bankruptcy, Governor Rick Snyder stripped power from city officials and assigned a series of emergency managers to fix Flint's financial crisis. ” In order to save money, Michigan state took over Flint and started using it as their water source stating from April 2014.The switch from lake Huron to Flint river ended up being a awful to the residents. The flint water was not being treated inadequately. Even though the government of Michigan knew about this, they weren’t willing to do anything about it. Because of that, the residents were being affected in many ways. The residents started noticing that the water was starting to have an odor and changing colors. On top of that, they started noticing that the water was affecting their children's skins and that the water is thinning their hair.This is not the only way the residents are being affected. From the unmonitored excessive amount of led that is out in Flint's water, these people are exposed to possibly permanent lead poison and other health effects.These people can’t even move out because it's almost impossible to sell their houses in the arias that are affected by this water,and these residents are forced to stay and knowingly use the contaminated water.