What We Know about the Flint water crisis

Democracy had, in effect, been suspended in Flint. MI and Flint, too, have shared in this success. “Communication about lead in drinking water and the health impacts associated with that, that’s the role of [the Department of Health and Human Services], the county health department and the drinking water utility”.

The problem with Flint’s water began in April 2014, when the city switched from Detroit’s water supply to water from the Flint River in a cost-cutting measure. “Our hair started falling out in handfuls”.

“We formed a 25-person team, to partner with Flint residents, and to examine every aspect of their water safety”.

“This is something that we don’t consider just what one person did, let’s look at the entire cultural background of how people have been operating”, he said.

Snyder appeared Friday morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and blamed “career civil service people” for “terrible decisions” that led to thousands of children being exposed to lead for months after Flint’s water supply was switched to save money. The EPA has said Flint and the state DEQ should have required treatments for corrosion control before switching to the river water, a claim DEQ previously disputed but now accepts. Emergency Manger Jerry Ambrose rejected the vote, calling it “incomprehensible” because the cost of water would increase by going back to Detroit.

“Nothing happens by an emergency manager without approval from the state”, Former Mayor Dayne Walling said. And corrosive river water improperly filtered, as Flint’s is, will strip everything it touches of iron and other debris as it moves through the pipes. As my colleague Raven Rakia has pointed out, lead exposure, which causes an array of health problems and is especially bad for children, is completely preventable.

Authorities finally responded in October.

Rosner is a professor of history and public health at Columbia University and has written extensively on the history of lead in the USA including the book, Lead Wars: The Politics of Science and the Fate of America’s Children.

Michigan’s Republican governor Rick Snyder is in the hot seat.

In November, Mays filed a class action lawsuit against the governor and a host of other state and city officials. However, their cries were ignored for months while officials told them the water was safe to use for bathing and cooking.

“When we had enough data in late August, we published a warning to residents, that they should not drink the water because of the lead in water contamination”.

On Thursday, US President Barack Obama approved $80 million (74 million euros) in federal aid to help fix those pipes.

“For instance, there were individuals within the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality who knew about the problem”, said Michael Pitt, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys.

Walters says her 5-year-old son has developed speech issues and a compromised immune system since the water crisis began. “And that’s part of the problem”. Those obligations are a legacy of Flint’s better days.

“Why is the city of Flint allowed to waste away?” Why has the president of the United States still not talked about the culpability of his administration? This last lesson of Flint is the most important.

Flint is about 70 miles from the shores of the Great Lakes, the largest group of freshwater bodies in the world.

The city of Flint, which is 56 percent African-American, has a population of approximately 100,000 residents – roughly 40 percent of whom find themselves in financial poverty.