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• 1 2024-08-16T15:07:01+00:00 Beneath the Surface: The Roots of the Flint Water Crisis 8 The decision to switch Flint's water source, driven by financial motives, ultimately led to a public health disaster, emphasizing the dangers of prioritizing cost savings over community well-being. The crisis also highlighted systemic issues, including racial and economic inequalities. plain 2024-08-16T22:31:56+00:00

  History

  To reduce expenses, Flint switched its water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River in April 2014, due to the price of water almost doubling from 2004 to 2013. In 2002, Governor John Engler declared a financial emergency and appointed an unelected manager to oversee the city. Despite this intervention, Flint’s financial struggles persisted, leading Governor Rick Snyder in 2011 to appoint a series of unelected emergency managers who ultimately decided to switch the city’s water supply to the Flint River in 2014, a decision that sparked the water crisis. Prior, Flint had been buying its water from Detroit, which sources water from Lake Huron. However, rising water prices led the Flint city council to decide to obtain water from the Karegnondi Water Authority via a new regional pipeline project connecting the Huron River to Flint. As for a financial perspective, this change was supposed to save the city $19 million over eight years. Since the pipeline wouldn't be ready until 2016 and Detroit refused to continue selling water to Flint, the emergency manager signed a contract for Flint to use water from the Flint River in the interim. Despite rising public health concerns, including a Legionnaire's disease outbreak and the detection of carcinogenic chemicals and lead in the water, the city's emergency manager prioritized cost savings over reconnecting to the Detroit water system. This decision ultimately lead the people of Flint to get plagued with water of all colors and odors comparable to fish markets and gasoline that resulted in major health issues, some even resulting in death.

  Political

  Looking back, it is apparent that this decision made to try and aid finances was far from a good one. It is important to look at the economic and political decisions that not only started the crisis but allowed it to get to the severity it did. First and foremost, this crisis underscored the devastating consequences of prioritizing economic considerations over public health and safety, along with emphasizing a lack of transparency with the public. Residents of Flint quickly reported problems with the water's taste, smell, and appearance, but their concerns were initially ignored. Systemic racism played a significant role in the crisis, as Flint's predominantly Black and impoverished community was neglected and mistreated. In a survey done questioning 100 residents of Flint, 82% of the respondents were not white, only 2% were considered upper class with 63% lower, many need to commute to get water, and 86% have had their health negatively impacted.