First you have to understand how Flint got its water before the crisis. The health and welfare of Flint families lay in the hands of an unaccountable city government that resisted addressing the crisis until it was brought to national attention. Susan Masten. Lead exposure doesn’t just affect people for a month or a year, she emphasizes, but for decades—even generations. Indisposable: Structures of Support After the ADA, Nicole Okai, We also need to analyze the incentives within those institutions that led officials to repeatedly ignore the concerns of Flint residents, and consider how we can transform government to be more transparent and accountable. Pay for essay. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stressed that there was no “safe” level for lead exposure and that the consquences of lead poisoning were lifelong and often debilitating. We used to have one school nurse in Flint and now have ten because of our advocacy. After the switch, residents complained about the … Most of America knows the Flint water crisis of the last four years has become quite the epidemic and the more we learn the worse things seem to become. Dr. Hanna-Attisha, a leading pediatrician and clinician at Hurley Medical Center, was one of the first to test and discover high levels of lead in Flint’s water. Lead from water pipes lines in Flint, Michigan leached into the water supply "The truth is, there are many communities with potentially dangerous lead problems," Snyder said in his testimony before the House Oversight Committee. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha and Lee-Anne Walters, who both played key roles in uncovering the contamination of Flint’s water, recently spoke at the Ford Foundation alongside MSNBC contributor Dorian Warren about what these and other issues have to do with what happened in Flint, the implications of the crisis for other struggling cities across America, and how we can disrupt the systems that led to it.Below are some highlights from the conversation. Together, they distributed millions of bottles of water to the community, and President Obama declared Flint a disaster zone, enabling it to receive federal emergency funds. In 2001, Washington, D.C. changed how it treated drinking water, and lead levels dramatically rose. Experts noted that such a move would do nothing to address the damage already done to Flint’s water supply infrastructure by more than 18 months of corrosive water. On January 16 U.S. Pres. Together with nine other foundations, Ford committed $125 million to the recovery efforts in Flint. Flint has relatively high levels of lead in its drinking water, a cause for legitimate concern. Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. Those managers, who reported directly to the Michigan state treasury department and not the citizens of Flint, decided to switch the city’s water supply from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) to the Flint River as a cost-savings measure. The Root Cause of the Flint Water Crisis - Plymouth-Canton, MI - The art of problem solving requires that we analyze all contributing factors ; Flint Water Crisis ; Michigan Public Service Commission The root cause of the Flint lead crisis was corrosion, the new study confirms. Due to the importance of food and water safety, plans to create a new regional water system that could bring tap water from the Lake Huron were then instated to set up a water harve… © 2020 Ford Foundation, some rights reserved. Over the following months, residents were twice advised to boil water because of the presence of dangerous levels of bacteria, and General Motors announced that the use of Flint River water at its plant was causing corrosion on newly machined engine parts. Within a week, however, Snyder had announced a $12 million plan to switch back to DWSD as Flint’s water supplier. Will we rise to meet them? began in 2014 when the drinking water source for the city of Flint, Michigan was changed to the Flint River. Flint water crisis, public health crisis (April 2014–June 2016) involving the municipal water supply system of Flint, Michigan, which resulted in residents being exposed to dangerous levels of lead. The Flint Water Crisis began in 2013 when the city of Flint, Michigan, voted to end its water contract with Detroit. In September 2015 Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech professor of environmental engineering and an expert on municipal water systems, determined that the corrosiveness of insufficiently treated Flint River water was causing lead to be leached from aging pipes, and doctors at a Flint hospital told residents not to drink city water after blood tests of area children revealed high levels of lead. This pneumonia is caused by the bacterium Legionella pneumophila, which grows in water and was found in the Flint water supply. In 2002 Michigan Gov. Are there other areas in the United States that experience similar or worse drinking water problems? If the "dumb and dangerous" … By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Dayne Walling, the mayor, said, taking a gulp of river water. Snyder declared a state of emergency for Genesee county in January 2016 and activated the National Guard to assist with water distribution. Michael Ray oversees coverage of European history and military affairs for Britannica. For 50 years, Flint had purchased its water from Detroit, its neighbor 70 miles to south. A domino series of causes and effects were responsible for this problem. Little has been said about the cause of the Flint River pollution itself; the river was polluted by … Why was this problem so difficult to control? Therefore, iron pipes in the water distribution system began corroding immediately after the initial switch from Detroit water. Flint’s water when it was safe. Flint, Michigan. Flint’s elected city council held an almost entirely symbolic vote to return the city to DWSD as its water provider, but the measure was rejected as “incomprehensible” by the emergency manager. More information: Flint Water Crisis Caused By Interrupted Corrosion Control: Investigating "Ground Zero" Home, Environ.Sci. He earned a B.A. Toward the end of last year, headlines blared news of the high levels of lead turning up in the blood of children in Flint, Michigan, a struggling industrial suburb of Detroit.Early coverage hewed closely to what had caused the problems in Flint itself—a switch in its water supplies, and the political and cost-saving machinations that drove that decision. Flint Water Crisis: What Happened and Why? In conclusion, the Flint water crisis emerged due to various setbacks that majorly can be linked with the management department of the water systems in Flint town. More significantly, the corrosiveness of the water leached lead out of old pipes used throughout the city. In a community already struggling with poverty, crime, and a lack of resources, lead poisoning exacerbates existing burdens. There is no acceptable level of lead: any amount is considered toxic. 2016. For 50 years, Flint had purchased its water from Detroit, its neighbor 70 miles to south. What caused the Flint water crisis and what cities everywhere can learn from it, The top of a water tower is seen at the Flint Water Plant. What caused the Flint Michigan water crisis? More information: Flint Water Crisis Caused By Interrupted Corrosion Control: Investigating "Ground Zero" Home, Environ. But you probably shouldn’t drink it in the meantime. What are the health risks for people using the water? The levels of chlorine and other corrosive compounds in the Flint River water caused further problems. In March 2015 a test of the drinking water in one Flint home uncovered concentrations of lead more than 25 times higher than the level deemed actionable by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); subesequent testing found lead levels that far exceeded the EPA’s criteria for classifying water as hazardous waste. 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