Water Pollution in Flint, Michigan

The water crisis afflicting Flint, Michigan, demonstrates not only the severity of environmental pollution, but also the enormous extent to which state corporate authorities have failed its people by attempting to conceal the critical effects of contaminated water on residents (Cama,2016). Flint residents began to experience contaminated water, financial difficulties, and Legionnaires’ disease after the newly appointed emergency manager decided to switch the community’s water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. The river is well-known for its high levels of toxic pollution. Flint’s leadership needs to be reformed, and the city’s disaster response needs to be improved (Lenny, 2016). The measure undertaken by the Rich Snyder, the Michigan Governor and the appointed Emergency Managers for Flint, was meant to cut on cost while also acting as a proceeding step for the denationalization of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. The move shows that the government officials neglected the needs and health of the people by placing financial gain over the safety of their health. The residents reported to their county authorities and the Department of the Environmental Quality that the water they were using was reddish in color and affected them health wise because the people who consumed the water were experiencing rashes, vomiting and hair loss. However, the authorities lied to the people by explaining to them that the water contained no dangerous elements. The officials therefore needed to be removed from leadership and new ones employed.

Expanding health care and education trust fund, this can help reduce the health and the education cost that the people of Flint might experience for decades to come. The water crisis at Flint was composed of two primary stakeholders: the city officials and the residents of Flint. The residents had a right to clean and safe water for drinking and domestic use. The switch of the water source in 2014 adversely affected the people especially their health. A Flint resident Michael Webber was reported to be complaining about eye problem which the officials and medical personals concluded to be due to high blood pressure (CNN, 2017). Lead contamination has a higher risk for children; it causes loss of hearing, cognitive disabilities, late puberty, and change in behaviors which are mainly negative. In pregnant women, lead is said to have the ability to cause imbalanced fetal growth. As for the rest of the residents, it can cause kidney and heart problems. The city officials such as Governor Snyder, Department of Environmental quality for Michigan State, emergency managers who were appointed by the governor, the Flint Mayor and the city council of Flint were the official stakeholders (Snyder, 2016). Making healthcare accessible to the people can improve their lives and trust in their leaders.

The government officials placed the lives of the people of Flint at stake by denying them access to clean and harmless water due to their greed for more revenue from the city. The officials were aware of the pollution at the Flint River, the water was contaminated with toxins, but they did not act on it instead they supplied it to the people. The highly corrosive water leached. lead particles from the water pipes, which reached the residents at their taps, and caused health effects when they consumed it. The government did not fulfill their social responsibilities to the people by properly conserving the environment or taking care of the health of its population. Allocating enough funds for cleaning up the environment especially the water at the Flint River and replacement of the lead pipes the government can potentially win the trust of the people back and they can start using the water which they have feared using again (careered, 2017)

The leaders should develop a plan to reduce the taxes for the residents and also reforming the environment by the installation of quality pipes and cleaning up the water at Flint River. Flint is made of 56.5 percent Black American people. Forty percent of the population of Flint lives below the federal poverty line. Other Michigan cities did not use the contaminated river as an alternative source of water; the initiative was only taken for the African American populated city. These contaminations can only be cleared if the cause of the problem is dealt with that is the allocation of enough resources for the people of Flint so that their water can be clean as that of other residents of the United States (Hammer, n.d).

Provision of clean water, the government officials of Michigan can win over the trust of its people by responding to a federal judge’s orders of delivering clean drinking water to the people of flint, even though they should have done it voluntarily.

References

Cama, T. (2016). Michigan task force blames state government for Flint water crisis. Retrieved from careered: https://resources.careered.com/LCMSFileSharePreview/Resources/AdobePDF/PHIL101_U4_IP_Article1.pdf

careered. (2017, feb 07). This article was retrieved from the ABI Inform Collection. Retrieved from careered.: https://resources.careered.com/LCMSFileSharePreview/Resources/AdobePDF/PHiL101_U4_IP_Article5.pdf

CNN. (2017). Flint Water Crisis Fast Facts. Retrieved from cnn: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/04/us/flint-water-crisis-fast-facts/

Lenny, B. &. (2016). Six Michigan Employees Charged with Misconduct in Flint Water Crisis. Retrieved from careered: https://resources.careered.com/LCMSFileSharePreview/Resources/AdobePDF/PHiL101_U4_IP_Article4.pdf

Snyder, B. (2016). Michigan’s Governor Just Apologized for the Flint Water Crisis. Retrieved from careered: https://resources.careered.com/LCMSFileSharePreview/Resources/AdobePDF/PHiL101_U4_IP_Article3.pdf

Hammer, P. J. (n.d.). The Flint Water Crisis, KWA and Strategic-Structural Racism. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2812171