The Problem Of Drinkable Water In Flint

As Doidge et al. illustrate, the historical background of Flint City’s drinking water supply emanated from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. This was through a contractual basis for over three decades, and its main source of water was Lake Huron. The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department is an extensive system encompassing almost 1,080 square-miles, and provides to more than two fifths of the Michigan State population. In the year 2000 alone, the system covered 11,000 miles of water channels with a storage volume of about 360 million gallons. It supplied water to nearly four million people in Detroit and its metropolitan locale.

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

An attempt to save money by changing water sources by an indifferent government caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, negative health effects, and a total loss in faith in the government of Michigan. Although measures have been taken to mitigate these problems, their effects have already marred the city of Flint and its

It is a privilege and yet it is with a heavy heart that I am writing this to all who has utmost disgust for the evils and vices happening around us. I sincerely believe that we all despise injustices of any kind and cannot stand the stench of discrimination be it racial, sexual, ethnic, or class. Whether you have a religious or nonreligious stance, I presumed we all have a sense of good and evil, right and wrong, just and unjust. And all these can be meaningfully understood only when applies to the relationship and interdependence of the human society. If not all, most of us would agree that the greatest evil that can be done to the human race is to deny the right to exist to someone or a group of people. And if you believe in the Christian God like I do, it is even more explicitly stated in the Bible that taking lives is a sin with extreme consequences. Of all the rights we can imagine, the right to live triumphs and makes sense of all the rest.

The contamination began in April 2014 after the source of the town’s water supply was switched from Lake Huron to the Flint river in order to reduce governmental costs. This was done despite the fact that the Flint River had a strong history of pollution. Among this pollution included car parts, a dead body, and high levels of chemicals. (Semules par 5). Once the pipes were switched there were several complaints of the water having a foul smell and metallic taste (Foley par 4). In the beggining the government denied that anything was wrong despite the fact that lab examinations of the water proved otherwise. Two years after the Flint water crisis gained media attention, the Senate passed a bill that would provide Flint residents with water, but this is

The city of Flint is 70 miles away from the costs of the Great Lakes which hold the greatest sources of fresh water, yet there residents still can't get clean tap water. 15% of homes in Flint Michigan are boarded up ,40% of the people are in poverty , high unemployment rate, and consistently on a list for most dangerous places to live in the nation .In an attempt to cut budget cost in 2014 Flint stop getting pre treated water from the city of Detroit . Problems began when the city started using water from the Flint river .Flint River is 19 times more corrosive than Lake Huron (Detroit water source) . City and state officials denied for months that there was a serious problem by that time, supply pipes had sustained major corrosion and lead

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

Flint in Michigan is located 70 Miles away from the shores of large fresh water bodies, the Great Lakes. Despite this close proximity to the fresh water bodies, the residents have not been able to get the clean water. The water supply of Flint in Michigan in the United States has undergone serious water contamination crisis. The water crisis started in April 2014 (Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, 2016). The contamination of drinking water began when the source of water was changed from the treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to the Flint River. This later led to a serious contamination of the water due to lead contamination hence creating more danger in the public health. The Flint River had a corrosive nature and caused lead from the old pipes to leach into the water supply. This caused heavy metals in the water supply. This posed serious health problems. For example, six thousand to twelve thousand children were exposed to the contaminated water. The blood-lead level in children increased. The alteration in the water source was the main reason behind the water crisis in Flint.

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 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).

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

The water crisis in Flint has caused mixed effects on the local businesses. There is one factor that every business has in common and that is the use of water in one way, shape or form. Because of the lead contaminated water in Flint, the city officials have given out water filters; however, for some businesses this will not do. In a story from INC.com we see the story of a man beginning his new business in Flint. The business in question is a coffee shop. Luke Leffel the owner of Wild Root Coffee states that, “He cannot afford to spend a couple thousand dollars on a filtering system. While the city is giving out tap filters to residential homes, businesses need to outfit their shops with filters at their own cost. Instead of waiting until he can afford a filtering system, Leffel found a bottled water delivery company that he can afford in the meantime.”(Yakowicz) This is the expense that this small business owner now is faced with, with drinking water that is not safe.

Flint, Michigan is a city in a dire financial situation. In 2011, the state of Michigan assumed complete budgetary and financial control of the city and began implementing several cost-cutting measures in an attempt to alleviate the situation. Of these cost-cutting measures, one of them was changing the source of the municipal water supply source. Flint’s water supply was sourced directly from the city of Detroit, whose reservoir came from one of the Great Lakes, Lake Huron. In an effort to save money over an extended period of time, the state devised a plan to construct a new water supply line which would directly provide water from Lake Huron to Flint, Michigan. However, given that the construction of a direct pipeline would take several years to execute, the state of Michigan devised an alternative short-term plan to acquire water from the nearby Flint River.

In a western country, it would be acceptable to believe that one would not have to think twice when turning on the tap to brush their teeth or perhaps have a drink of water. It is an unfortunate reality, that this has not been the case in Flint, Michigan, U.S.A. How could such an abomination persist in the “land of the free”? The pathetic truth is that in modern countries, race continues to dictate the quality of life one is confined to. This paper will explore the concept of environmental racism, and how it influences Flint’s water crisis.

The issue with lead in the drinking water in Flint is the fact the water is highly corrosive. According to the Virginia Tech lead hydrologist, Marc Edward states that levels are 19 more levels higher than the water pumped from Detroit’s Hereon River. The reason why the corrosion exists is due to the breaking down of old lead pipes and the soldering materials that was used to connect the lines to the house and water mains. Additionally, the water wasn’t properly treated and high levels of iron have been found in the water as well. (Bliss, 2015) The fault of Flint’s water problem is the city, I feel they should have come clean about what was found in the water. The city had no thought regarding the health of its resident. Although Flint suffers