Flint Michigan Water Crisis

 Flint, Michigan Water Crisis

        What makes Flint’s current water situation a crisis? Children not being able to quench their thirst by consuming the water at their schools. Mothers who cannot give their children water from the tap due to the high levels of lead in the water system. This crisis shouldn’t be taken lightly, as it may lead to detrimental situations. Plenty of families in Flint are negatively affected by this traumatic case. How would you feel if the water systems in your community is literally tainted?

        The Background

        The Flint water crisis originated in April of 2014, however it wasn’t that “big of a deal”. The water was still suitable to use to drink and bathe in. June 2012, the Flint government sought to save money by running pipelines underground throughout the community. The procedure saved roughly $200 million. Fast forwarding to April 2014, Flint switched its water source to the Flint river. Officials knew that the Flint river’s water wasn’t suitable for residential use, but they had a “wait and see” mentality. Basically waiting to treat the river to remove any toxins. In May of 2014, Flint’s resident complaints started rolling in. Residents claimed the water had a rustic-like color and foul odor. To add to the description, residents noticed a harsher feel to the consistency of the water. Everything went downhill from that point.

Bacteria was detected in the water three months later when it was finally tested Karaganda Water Authority (KWA). Flint residents were directed to boil their water if the intentions were to consume or bathe in. Two months after that, (October 2014) General Motors stopped using the water altogether. Their explanation of why was quite reasonable, at least in my opinion. General Motors claimed that the “tainted” water would corrode their machinery, which could be an expensive money drain to reverse if their vehicles were to perish.

There is an obvious theory about why the government and everyone that is responsible let this issue persist without doing anything urgent about it. Flint, Michigan is a relatively African American community. And unfortunately, it is not an affluent community, either. People, especially Flint residents highly believe that is the primary reason why wasn’t taking this serious issue too seriously. Even though that theory isn’t a proven fact, it doesn’t seem too farfetched. African American communities does not even get a tenth of as much attention as Caucasian American communities do. Of course people are justified to believing that theory. Mass media emphasizes that particular case, and the initial blame was placed on the residents themselves. People on the outside looking in, primarily Caucasians, believe that African Americans doesn’t take care of the cleanliness of their communities. In some cases, I could agree. However, not all cases that is true. I chalk it up to some people are just innocently ignorant.