Toxic Chemicals In Flint, Michigan

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.

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 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

“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 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

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.

An essential necessity for life is slowly killing residents in Michigan. The town of Flint, Michigan is slowly being poisoned by their water supply. Flint is 70 miles north of Detroit with a population of 98,310. According to the U.S. Census Bureau a little under half of residents live below the poverty line. More than fifty-five percent of the city’s population is African-American (CNN Library). The dangerous lead levels in the water went unnoticed for years, despite the residents’ complaints of discolored and foul-smelling water. The question at hand is how could this happen?

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.

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.

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.

In the article, “How Tap Water Became Toxic in Flint, Michigan,” the authors from CNN, Sara Ganim and Linh Tran, discussed about how Flint’s water became toxic after the state decided to switch their water supply source due to financial issues. The state switched their water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Moreover, after the switch, many residents began to notice a change in their water. For example, one of the residents expressed, “the water started to look, smell and taste funny..it often looked dirty..the water would come in brown..”(Ganim and Tran).

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.

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

When complaints about the quality of water began just weeks after the Flint River was “online”, both Governor Walling and emergency manager Early responded with claims that the water was safe to drink. In the following months, when Flint’s water tested positive for harmful pathogens and TTHM (a chemical linked to liver, kidney and nervous system disorders as well as several types of cancer), DSWD offered to forfeit a 4 million dollar reconnection fee and supply water for the citizens of Flint once again. This offer was ignored by emergency managers and city council, who instead decided to hire a water quality consultant to remedy the situation. (“How the Flint Water Crisis Emerged” slide 11 and 13). Throughout this crisis, one poor decision after another was made by city officials that ultimately caused the crisis in Flint. Residents and news media alike have voiced their distrust of these leaders and have called for resignations at all levels of city and even state

Rationing materials in order to survive, simple hygiene practices becoming difficult to perform, and sickness spreading throughout the city. This sounds like the description of a war torn country but this is instead the reality of the citizens of Flint, MI. The citizens of Flint have been poisoned and forced to deal with ailments such as seizures and Legionnaires’ disease. Sadly these ailments won’t disappear once the pipes have been replaced and the water system has been switched away from the Flint River. These residents will see the effects of this lead poisoning not only for their lives but for generations to come. We will see the effects in the children of the Flint victims and even their grandchildren. The big question is how did we allow this to happen in the United States of America, one of the world’s most developed countries.