Managerial Communication Report

 Managerial Communication Report

  The Flint Water Crisis: The lies, deceit,

and the lack of compassion

By

Summary

The City of Flint is the most sizably large city and the county seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. The town is located along the Flint River, 66 miles northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region kenned as Mid-Michigan. The city once was a beautiful, thriving place to live, but recently the city has been plagued with financial issues since 2002 which arrived in $30 million, and now the people of Flint are suffering from imbibing contaminated water from the lack of communication and mismanagement from the top government agencies.

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Flint Water Crisis 2

Flint Water Crisis:

The lies, deceit,

and the lack of compassion  

This report will identify the quandaries that plagued the city of Flint. The critical elements of the communication breakdown and mismanagement between the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the lack of transparency with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, in addition to providing solutions within the state regime and the citizens of Flint.  First, we need to go back in time to find out what caused this devastating event:

Problems

It all commenced in 2010 when the Karegnondi Water Authority was incorporated to accommodation and distribute water from Lake Huron to Flint and other neighboring communities in Genesee, Lapeer, and Sanilac counties. There was also a $270 million project involves the construction of pipelines and pumping stations. *See Figure 1

*Figure 1 KWA installing pipelines (source: lansingstatejournal.com)

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• In 2011, flint was in financial despair, the city had incurred a budget deficit of 25.7 million, (Detroit Free Press, 2010) after that, the state financial review board recommended to Gov. Rick Snyder to appoint an emergency financial manager.

• In 2013, both the previous state treasurer and the governor chief of staff discussed an alternative way to save money by purchasing water from KWA, besides, the city has to tap into an alternative source of water due to the delay of Karegnondi pipeline installation. (Detroit Free Press, 2010)

• DWSD wanted the city officials, of Flint, to reconsider its decision not to go with KWA and to sign a deal with them, but Flint emergency manager Ed Kurt did not take their offer and signed a contract to purchase water from KWA instead. Mr. Kurt verbally expressed DWSD was not offering any cost saving rates for their service.

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• Since the termination of DSWD contract with Flint, Ed Kurt had to think of an expeditious plan to provide water to their residents, so he signed a resolution to hire a Houston predicated engineering firm called Lockwood, that company had offices in Flint, so they can put the city’s owned water plant back in operations. The city utilized the Flint River has an alternated source at the time, and they claimed it was liberated from corrosion.

• Two dangerous bacteria E. coli and total coliform detected in Flint's water, prompting multiple advisories for residents to boil their water. Flint’s pipes wasn’t treated with orthophosphate, a chemical that prevents that toxic lead from getting into the water.

• Flint recently found to violate the Safe Drinking Water Act because of the high level of total trihalomethanes in the water. TTHM are disinfection byproducts that occur when chlorine interacts with organic matter in the water. Some types are possible carcinogens for humans, (CDC.gov, 2014) *See Figure 2 Illustration[pic 3]Figure 2 the breakdown of chemicals in the water.

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The Lies  

The City of Flint issued a press release from the DEQ office verbalizing that the quality of water meets all of our imbibing standards, but here’s the issue the city doesn’t provide corrosion-control treatment to avert lead from leaching into pipes. (Detroit Free Press, 2010)  An irate resident wrote to Miguel Del Toral from the US Environmental Protection Agency in Chicago to discuss her solicitousness about the high calibers of lead in her home. *See Figure 3 Mr. Toral contacted Stephen Bush the District Coordinator for the DEQ's Office of Drinking Water & Municipal Assistance; he told a prevarication he verbally expressed ‘flint has an optimized corrosion-control program’ in authenticity they don’t provide that accommodation at all. Mayor Dayne Walling and verbally express-appointed emergency manager Darnell Earley perpetuated to tell residents the water is safe. (Time, 2017)