Toxic Chemicals In Flint, Michigan

in Flint that have been exposed to the dangerous levels of lead in their water. The government

To begin with, the problem was the water contained elevated levels of iron and lead. The problem was such a huge issue because it affected every resident in Flint. Water is a major essential to one’s daily life and dozens of families were using the water supply for several purposes such as showering, drinking, cooking, washing one’s car or home, and watering plants. Furthermore, worried parents are going to the doctor because of rashes and hair loss, it also affected children by dropping their IQ, affecting their behavior, and it has also been inked to criminality and has multigenerational impacts. As a result, the fault of the problem lies with the state DEQ. It was said that the state ignored federal law and didn’t use an anti-corrosive agent to treat the water.

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,

In Flint Michigan studies show there was a large amount of lead in the water , because of this high turbidity in the water witch means this water is dangerous.

Would you drink, and bathe in the water coming out of that tap? The word no is what every sensible human would say when seeing this orange colored liquid. Unfortunately, residents in Flint Michigan are having toxic water like that, running through their pipes and there is one major problem... It’s too late to fix it. How did this happen? How poisonous is the water and what are the effects of it?

I read an article published by NPR about the water crisis still currently happening in Flint, Michigan. The article provides a timeline leading up to the crisis and the backlash it has created in the town. It starts off with Flint city officials deciding whether or not the town can save money by getting their water from another source. To do this they would build their own pipeline and it’s said it would save the town up to $200 million is 25 years. Despite saying the water was safe and clean to use, it still caused a lot of problems. Residents complained about how the water tasted and smelt bad, and General Motors refused to continue using the water because they feared it would cause corrosion and damage to their machines. And instead of testing

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

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.

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.

The lead effects in the drinking water have caused a massive public health crisis (“Scientific Opinion on the risks”, 2015). The whole crisis was as a result of poor management practices employed in the Flint water plant. The city decided to switch the

“Environmental racism is real…so real that even having the facts, having the documentation and having the information has never been enough to provide equal protection for people of color and poor people” “It takes longer for the response and it takes longer for the recovery in communities of color and low-income communities.” (Bullard, 1994:36)

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 Flint water crisis was a public health emergency that occurred only an hour from my home. It is a crisis that involved failures on multiple levels of government, including my state government. Their failures caused a preventable public health issue to increase in severity until there was irreversible damage, millions of dollars in recovery costs, and an entire city’s health at risk. It is important to look at the failures of my government and be able to recognize and identify when they are not performing their duties, so that future crisis such as this can be avoided.

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.