Flint Water Crisis Outline

I.

Introduction
Water is the single most important element humans need to survive. A
human can survive up to 40 days without food, but will only survive 6 days
without water. Not only can we not survive without water, we need clean
healthy water. In the years 2014 and 2015 the city of Flint Michigan was
poised by their very own public drinking water causing a National Emergence
we all know as the Flint Water Crisis.

A.

Purpose of the Report

The purpose of this report is to examine the facts and evidence of the Flint
Water Crisis. Answers to the following questions are provided:

B.
C.
D.

II.

How did the flint water crisis start?

What happened after the water switch?
Who is at fault?
What are the health problems associated?
Did environmental injustice and unfair health equality occur?

Scope of the Report

Definitions
Methods and Procedures

Findings
A.

Background on How the Flint Crisis Started

The United States Census Bureau collected data and reported that Flint,
Michigan, is made up of around 99,000 residents with 41.5 percent of residents are
below the poverty line and have the per capita income of $14,527 (United States
Census Bureau, 2015). Flint has roughly the highest rates of property within in the
United States. With Flint having such high levels of poverty it contributes to low
amount of tax money to spend. The prices for Detroit river water were increasing
causing a lack of funds. The officials of Flint decided to change the citys source of
drinking water from the Detroit River to the Flint River in April 2014. The officials
believed the switch would help save money but instead they slowly poisoned the
citizens causing lifelong health issues.
Now the question is how long did the officials and government know that the
drinking water was dangerous? Did they ignore all the cries for help?

B.

The Voiced Concerns and Warnings

Soon after the water supply switched from the Detroit River to the Flint River
the residents of Flint started to express their concerns about the water coming out
of the faucet. Reports state the water was orange or brown and smelled
disgusting (Brown, 2016). Figure 1 demonstrate the color of the water coming out
of the faucet:

Figure 1

Source: (Revesz, 2016)

General Motors a large company that works out of Flint conveyed that in
October 2014 General Motors were going to stop using the water due to the fact
the water was corroding its equipment (Davidson, 2016). City engineers alleged
the best solution was to flush high levels of chlorine to solve the water issues. Marc
Edwards a Virginia Tech environmental-engineering professor wrote a study that
showed the Flint water was over nearly 900 times the recommend Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) limit for lead particles (Graham, 2016).
The water was clearly brown, destroying machines, and deemed unsafe. How
did our government (local, state, and federal) not listen nor help the citizens in
Flint?

C.

Government Lies

January 7, 2015 an email was sent out to the state workers. The email sent
from DTMB facilities to the Flint State Office building read:
The City of Flint recently sent out the attached notice regarding
violations to the drinking water standards. While the City of Flint
states that the corrective action is not necessary, DTMB is in the
process of providing a water cooler on each occupied floor, positioned
near the water fountain, so you can choose which water to drink. The
coolers will arrive today and will provided as long as the public water
does not meet treatment requirements (Progress Michigan, 2016).
January 5, 2016, Governor Rick Snyder a year later declare a state of
emergency due to the amount of lead in the water supply (Graham, 2016).