The Flint, Michigan water crisis was a media phenomenon from January 2016 to March 2016. As the rest of America started to realize everyday American citizens did not have access to clean water at the fault of their government, millions became outraged. Everyone chimed in from Black Lives Matter protestors, to the President and even Presidential candidates. The problem? The Flint water crisis started in April 2014 and is still ongoing (Robbins, 2016). But, when was the last time you heard of the crisis in the news? One of the biggest social problem facing America is that we only care of an issue for as long as it stays in the news. We have become a society of being “bandwagon activist” and only being very passionate about an issue that is currently in the media. Once the issue has received its 15 minutes of fame, it is on the next trending issue. The problem with this is that so many more issues are caused because of the lack of attention. Unfortunately, many people are unaware of the impact of Flint water crisis. We know of the high exposure to lead the residence are facing and the sickness coming from it, but what was not reported is how drugs to help treat severe lead poisoning grew 7200% in the last few years, peaking during the crisis. What use …show more content…
No one cares about a small bush fire until it’s a wildfire. Granted, not everything needs to be reported on the news, but when thousands of American citizens right in our backyard are being given contaminated water, does it really have to take the Governor declaring a state of emergency almost two years after the problem started for people to care? Before the State of Emergency was issued, msnbc was the only news outlet to have spent a significant amount of time, over 68 minutes, covering the crisis. CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, CNN, and PBS combines spent about 5 and a half minutes covering the crisis (Robbins,
The Flint Water Crisis: What went wrong, article was written by Ryan Felton in January 16, 2016. The story of the article takes place in Flint, Michigan. The city of Flint experienced a crisis that has not been experienced in any other city across the nation. The article states that what happen in flint should not have happened, a city with 100,000 residents should not have to worry about poisoned water running into their homes. The water issue started when Flint appointed emergency manager Darnell Earley, decided to switch Flint’s water source form the city of Detroit to a local Flint River. This switched was aim to find a cheap alternative water source for the residents. However, what the officials failed to do was to test the water and see
The article “How Tap Water Became Toxic in Flint, Michigan” By Sara Ganim and Linh Tran talks about the toxicity in the tap water from Flint, Michigan. In the article it is described that the levels of led in Flint's’ water system was because there was a corrosive agent in the water that was taking led off the pipes and putting it into the drinking water. The start of everything happened when Flint stopped paying Detroit for water and switched to a temporary source until they could build their own pipe to lake Huron. The temporary water source that they switched to was the Flint river. The water in the Flint river is 19 times more corrosive than the water from the lake Huron. Pipes that carried the water were not used to the level of corrosion
CNN student news article was about how to deal with the massive water crises in Flint. To save money the town switched their
The article, “Lead Levels Remain High in Flint’s Water” by Matt Davenport explores the increased lead contamination in the Flint, Michigan water source. In April of 2014, high levels of bacteria, and fecal matter were detected in the water of Flint, Michigan. While the levels of bacteria decreased, the city’s water still breaks the federal rule for lead levels. A series of tests conducted by Marc A. Edwards was able to show that the city’s contaminated water was corroding pipes, which leached lead into the water. Because Edwards was able to inform the public about the contaminated water source, Michigan officials have taken steps to improve Flint’s water quality. For example, the water-pipes were re-routed to carry water from Detroit instead
The Flint water crisis has left no one from the damage, even the pets are getting sick of the poisoned water. That was what residents Lee and Ernie of Flint Michigan saw with their cat. Flint is a city in Michigan with a total population of approximately one hundred thousand residents. The issue with the water for Flints and its residents stated in 2014 when the city decided to switch from their water resource from the city of Detroit to a local river. Immediately after the switch residents filed complaints about the water’s smell and color. In Ryan Felton’s “Flint’s Water Crisis: What went wrong,” it is apparent that the crisis should not have happened, and that flint was neglected just because it was an impoverished city.
There currently is a problem in the US with the government and how they cut corners with the water problem in Flint, Michigan. About two years ago, Michigan’s government decided they would save money by switching the water supply in Flint, Michigan. Before, Flint was getting their water from Lake Huron. Now, they are getting their water from the Flint River, known by it’s filth through the people of Flint. When reporters interviewed long-time residents of Flint they were shocked at the decision. The decision was supposed to be temporary, it wasn’t planned for it to go on for almost two years. Soon after the switch, the people of Flint saw the water didn’t look, smell, or taste right. It was almost as if the water was brown and you could see the dirt in it. Most people thought it was sewage but it turn out to be iron. The Flint River is highly contaminated, 19 times more so than Lake Huron. The state Department of Environmental Quality wasn’t treating the river so, the water was building up iron which caused the water to turn brown. The water was worse than it seemed, half the service line to homes in Flint are made of lead because the water wasn’t treated like it was supposed to be. The lead got into the water and mixed with the iron. The fire stations are helping with providing free bottled water and water filters for the homes. The fire stations also gave out lead testing kits
“The scale of government neglect in the water crisis in Flint, Michigan , could place the city along some of most infamous environmental disasters in U.S. history”-Lenny Bernstein.
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 people who lived in the city say they realized something was wrong the big guys kept saying there was nothing wrong and put it off for a whole month. President Obama had to claim a federal state of emergency on Flint, Michigan in 2014 because of the water that has been polluted by toxins and lead, but by the time the city officials realized something was wrong the pipes were already in too much damage (Kennedy/ npr). The City of flint is forty percent poor African American people, and this has put them in a giant crisis and when everything went down the people of Flint, Michigan went on strike (Kennedy/ npr). The polluted water was not fixed until April 6, 2018, this crisis lasted over four
When looking at why the flint water crisis happened you must simply looked to who in the state government was running the water authority in flint. While as many people, especially in Flint, expecting who they voted for in the state elections to be their leader, this just simply didn’t happened. Through the workings of the very complicated subject of state governments and different legislations that took away power from the locals in Flint and gave that power to the state government. For anyone living in the United States, their directly elected officials should have protected them and many people see this as a failure of direct democracies that cities should have. This taking away of power from voters and put it into a govern office in which
In April of 2014 Flint, Michigan started to get their water from the Flint River rather than the Detroit river that was formerly used as the main water source in hopes of saving money. The water being provided has been classified by Flint residents as smelly and murky and is avoided at all costs. It has also been discovered to cause damage to the lead pipes that transported it throughout the city. Children have been found to have high levels of lead in their blood and this may be the cause of an outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease which has killed 10 people in the Flint area. People have also reported rashes from the dirty water. Video news interviews show residents holding water that is
Flint Water Crisis, independent professionals reported testing the drinking water and what was found that there is lead and it was leaching into the main water supply. Contaminated water with lead and iron may be the most intense image of environmental and social injustice. Flint, Michigan, is amongst the poorest in the U.S. and majority African American, since 2014(npr.org 2016). The citizens of Flint had been complaining that their tap water was foul and discolored and had an odd taste. Nonetheless city, state, and federal officials ignored the issue. It has been stated that by changing the Flint water pipeline back to Lake Huron will not rectify the damage, investigators and many researchers believe that it may not be possible to ever undo
Back in April 2014, Flint Michigan, switched its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. The government believed that this would be a great idea, because by them making this big switch they begin to start saving a lot of money. The new water that they now use is very polluted. This is the water that each and every person in Flint depends on to drink, cook with and to also bathe in. A lot of people have been affected by this change in water supply. As things begin to worsen the people in Flint, started to hear and become very familiar to lead poisoning. A significant amount of their victims have fallen victim to to being affected by the contaminated water, that everyone has been using. Doctors have noticed that the amount of lead found
Flint in Michigan is located 70 Miles away from the shores of large fresh water bodies, the Great Lakes. Despite this close proximity to the fresh water bodies, the residents have not been able to get the clean water. The water supply of Flint in Michigan in the United States has undergone serious water contamination crisis. The water crisis started in April 2014 (Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, 2016). The contamination of drinking water began when the source of water was changed from the treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to the Flint River. This later led to a serious contamination of the water due to lead contamination hence creating more danger in the public health. The Flint River had a corrosive nature and caused lead from the old pipes to leach into the water supply. This caused heavy metals in the water supply. This posed serious health problems. For example, six thousand to twelve thousand children were exposed to the contaminated water. The blood-lead level in children increased. The alteration in the water source was the main reason behind the water crisis in Flint.
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.