BACKGROUND:
A recent/popular story in the news today has been the tragic and unfortunate situation for those
in Flint, Michigan. On January 5th 2016, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder declared a State of
Emergency for residents specifically from Genesee County, Michigan because there was an
outbreak of a water crisis due to their lead-contaminated water supply. The contaminated water
that people were consuming for ALMOST 2 YEARS (March 2014 – now) came from the Flint
River via Detroit’s water system. Previously, the people of Detroit used to obtain their water
from Lake Huron (via Detroit Water and Sewerage Department). The city of Flint changed their
water distribution site as a “cost-cutting measure” in April 2013 because they wanted to find an
alternative to getting Great Lakes water on their own. The move was announced temporary and
lasted until October 2015. However, the Flint water crisis was first announced in APRIL 2014.
President Obama declared a federal State of Emergency on January 16th as announcement to the
whole country. Governor Snyder mobilized the National Guard on January 12th to deliver
thousands of bottled water and filters to the residents of Flint.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/05/health/flint-michigan-water-investigation/
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/water-crisis-in-flint-michigan-declared-public-health-emergency/
SUMMARY:
The water that the city of Flint was receiving came from the Flint River and was pumped into
their water plant, where it would be distributed from. This change of outlets for water was
intended to save the city$19 million in the next few years. Because the city was used to already
receiving their water in drinkable condition, they had to upgrade their water plant so that the
water people drank would be clean water. However, people soon began complaining that the
water didn’t smell, taste, or look clean/healthy. At first, a bacterium was discovered in the water
and it was encouraged that people boil it. Then, in early 2015, their water supply was discovered
to be in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act because it had a series of chemicals called
trihalomethanes (TTHM). Not long after, the city of Flint pulled out from using the Flint River.
The Detroit Water and Sewage Department declared the water to be okay to use again after they
conducted experiments, but the city declined the offer. There were many battles and
disagreements about whether or not Flint should start using Lake Huron water again. They come
to realize that Lake Huron water is just as bad. Mayor Dayne Walling worked close with
emergency managers of the state to help find the roots of this water problem. Governor Snyder
later gives the city $2 million to help get clean water. The city starts paying millions of dollars to
do whatever they can to get clean water and fix their plant so that there won’t be leaks of lead.
Eventually, on September 2nd, Flint was cleared to not be violating the Safe Drinking Water Act
anymore because TTHM levels in the water lowered. IN October, Governor Snyder announced a
multi-million dollar deal for returning to Detroit’s water system because the people of Flint felt
like there was no other choice.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2015/10/how_the_flint_water_crisis_eme.html#30
***Notice in some of the articles the horrendous health effects this crisis placed on people***
CONNECTION TO GOVERNMENT:
This problem seems to violate the Safe Drinking Water Act in many different ways. This act was
specifically written to protect public drinking water. The EPA set standards for drinking water
quality and different kinds of programs to ensure drinking water safety. In this ridiculous story,
Flint got cleared and was reported to not be violating this act anymore because the levels of
TTHM only LOWERED. No site has mentioned that it was completely gone, but only
LOWERED. Secondly, Flint was still reported to be abiding by this act even though their water
had high levels of lead that were raising people’s lead levels in their blood, especially young
children. THIS MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE. The fact that the lead is acknowledged to
be in the water, it’s as though the state and federal government of Michigan is letting this “slide”.
Congress clearly doesn’t encourage proper use to legislation. President Obama finally put
himself in this situation even though it has been escalating for over two years. It is clear that the
Safe Drinking Water Act isn’t a priority to the federal government because of how many years it
took for the federal government to prioritize this problem in Flint, Michigan. President Obama
has also provided Flint with about $5 million in federal aid for water, filters, and anything else
residents need for improved water supply. This money is coming from the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, which is an independent agency that focuses on aiding states in times of
random emergencies.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/01/19/michigan-flint-water-
contamination/78996052/
*** This website talks about how certain senators want to create a specific amendment relating
to future situations like Flint and the budget some senators propose to provide to Flint right now
http://michiganradio.org/post/senators-say-they-ll-ask-more-federal-money-help-pay-flint-water-
infrastructure***
ANALYSIS:
I believe that this water crisis in Flint, Michigan is something that could have been prevented. I
say this because it wasn’t a prioritized issue. If the state of Michigan detected this problem going
back to April 2014, there’s no reason why a state of emergency was issued in January 2016.
Waiting three years to address this problem is excessive. Governor Snyder even admits that the
federal, state, and local level of government have failed the people of Flint. I would say that the
city of Flint and Governor Snyder was greedy, which also lead to the non-priority of this matter.
There were countless debates and plans proposed to solve this issue. The city of Flint went in
circles in terms of different ways to solve this problem. This included switching water sources,
getting multiple experts to check out the water system, trying to solve the problem themselves by
providing what I would call “advice to ignore the problem”, etc. Governor Snyder and Mayor
Walling tried their best to think of any little thing that they believed would put this problem off
for a while. I believe they did this because they didn’t want to spend too much money. That was
why they switched water systems in the first place. They were so cheap that they told the people
of Flint to boil their water in order for the bacteria to go away. All in all, they should’ve reached
out to the federal government quicker and should have declared a State of Emergency from the
beginning when people noticed discoloration in the water.
QUESTIONS:
1. Do you think that Flint’s local authorities tried their best to solve this problem? Could
this problem have been prevented?
2. In your opinion, did Flint’s water supply ALWAYS violate the Safe Drinking Water Act
even though they got cleared from having low amounts of chemicals?
3. Should Governor Snyder resign from his job as mayor?
4. How does the federal government play a role in the crisis’ continuation of getting worse?
pogo2currentevents 
I think that given the 3 time gap from when the problem was first discovered to when action was actually taken that the problem could’ve been prevented. Telling people to just “boil their water” to get rid of bacteria doesn’t solve any problems, it only pushes them further under the rug. Real action to solve the problem would include taking IMMEDIATE action to not only uncover the source of the problem, but figure out a solution to eliminate the problem. In this situation, the second step was not taken. Also, something about the initial changing location of water sources makes me a little suspicious. The change of outlets was supposed to save the city $19 million over a few years, that is understandable. However, water is a necessity to life. I think there could of been other ways to save money besides switching a city’s water source. In fact, I would think it would even be more expensive to switch as, “because the city was used to already receiving their water in drinkable condition, they had to upgrade their water plant so that the water people drank would be clean water”. I also believe that Flint’s water supply was ALWAYS harmful. I don’t know the specifics of the Safe Drinking Water Act and what is deemed “safe” vs. “unsafe”. However, what I do know is that NO amount of lead should be in people’s drinking water. Even with “lowered” lead levels people can still get severally sick and just because the levels are “lowered” shouldn’t deem it as “safe’ water. I don’t think it’s anyone’s place to tell the mayor to resign from his job, that is his decision and his decision alone. However, it is evident that he didn’t do enough to stop the lead problem. He should own up to his giant mistake, but I don’t think its my place to say if he should resign or not. the federal government steps in as last resort. They failed to pass any legislature that would benefit Flint (thats congress for ya). But Obama was able to step up and provide $5 million in aid. This money comes from an independent agency called, Federal Emergency Management Agency which aids states in times of emergencies. I’ve never heard of that agency before and i think that its very important to have a fund dedicated for emergencies. If only, they could’ve played a bigger role, sooner…
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In my opinion I do not think that Flint’s local authorities tried their best to solve the problem. Like Amari mentioned in her post, it took them forever to finally start fixing the problem. They should’ve gotten to work as soon as they saw a discoloration in the water like Amari mentioned. As for a prevention to this overall problem, if they would’ve never switched to this water supply from the beginning this problem most likely would have never occurred. They only switched because they were seeking a system that would be more cheap. I think that the Flint’s water supply did violate the Safe Drinking Water Act simply because it still is not drinkable. When water is coming out of the faucet brown then that is a problem. Whether there are no chemicals or not, it is a violation. Have those government officials try to drink the brown water and see how they’ll respond. I think that Governor Snyder should remain as Mayor. It is not fair to put someone else in his mess, let alone Snyder potentially moving away from the community if he resigns, leaving thousands of families in a situation which they have no control over. If he resigns, it will only make him look selfish. He should really evaluate his purpose of becoming Mayor in the first place, I’m assuming to serve his people, then find more solutions to helping out this water crisis. The federal government’s role in this crisis is to help the community by providing money needed for access to clean water. However they contribute to the crisis getting worse because they finally stepped in years later, why not earlier?
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In my opinion I do not think that Flint’s local authorities tried their best to solve the problem. Like Amari mentioned in her post, it took them forever to finally start fixing the problem. They should’ve gotten to work as soon as they saw a discoloration in the water like Amari mentioned. As for a prevention to this overall problem, if they would’ve never switched to this water supply from the beginning this problem most likely would have never occurred. They only switched because they were seeking a system that would be more cheap. I think that the Flint’s water supply did violate the Safe Drinking Water Act simply because it still is not drinkable. When water is coming out of the faucet brown then that is a problem. Whether there are no chemicals or not, it is a violation. Have those government officials try to drink the brown water and see how they’ll respond. I think that Governor Snyder should remain as Mayor. It’s not fair to put someone else in his mess, let alone Snyder potentially moving away from the community if he resigns, leaving thousands of families in a situation which they have no control over. If he resigns, it will only make him look selfish. He should really evaluate his purpose of becoming Mayor in the first place, I’m assuming to serve his people, then find more solutions to helping out this water crisis. The federal government’s role in this crisis is to help the community by providing money needed for access to clean water. However they contribute to the crisis getting worse because they finally stepped in years later, why not earlier?
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I think that Flint’s local authorities handled it as much as they could since the government needed to give them money to clean their water system. The problem could have definitely been prevented since saving money is not as important as their citizen’s health.The CNN article concluded with alarming symptoms, “The health effects listed in the class-action suit include: skin lesions, hair loss, high levels of lead in the blood, vision loss, memory loss, depression and anxiety.” If they had not tried to find cost-cutting measures they could have avoided citizens from being harmed. I think that as long as the low amounts of chemicals don’t harm anybody else, then it shouldn’t be a violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act. If they got cleared because of having low amounts of chemicals but they still cause symptoms then they would be violating the act. I don’t think that Governor Snyder should resign from his job as a major but I think that he should be put under some sort of probation. It was not his fault that the water resulted in high levels of led but it is his fault that he didn’t do anything sooner. USA Today said, “”I’m sorry and I will fix it,” Snyder said near the opening of his speech, directly addressing the residents of Flint. “Government failed you at the federal, state and local level.”‘ He seems to be apologetic for what happened and he is working to fix it therefore, I don’t think he should be forced to resign. The federal government pays a role in the crisis’ continuation of getting worse because they aren’t giving them enough money to fix their water supply. They seem to be hoping for the situations to be getting better by just giving them some money and seeing how it plays out. I understand that budgeting money is another big issue but I think that the people’s health and safety is a lot more important, meaning that they could do more to fix the issue.
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The local authorities in Flint did not handle the situation well and they could have done a better job. The officials involved are sorry that the people of Flint suffered, but the entire situation could have been avoided. In America, no one should have to worry about getting clean and safe drinking water because we are one of the richest countries in the world. The people of Flint were seen as insignificant to the government and were treated unfairly. This seems to be common relationship between the government and towns that have high poverty and minority levels. There are more places like Flint in America that are also not receiving the proper care and attention. The water in Flint always violated the Safe Drinking Water Act based on how many people became sick. The purpose for the Safe Drinking Water Act was supposed to prevent situations similar to the one in Flint. The federal government has the opportunity to take control and to provide clean and safe drinking water to Flint. Someone new needs to step into power in Michigan because by only giving the town some money to try to fix the problem themselves, Governor Snyder is not fixing the problem. The fact that something as drastic as this was allowed to happen under his watch, shows that he needs to step down and allow someone else to try to fix this issue with new ideas. In the end, all towns and cities need to be prioritized in America. We are such a large and powerful nation that it seems ridiculous that there could be such a drastic difference between the water in Massachusetts and the water in Michigan. This situation needs to show officials in all sectors of government that people are a priority and that we as a country need to provide equal care for everyone, where ever he/she lives.
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I do not think that Flint’s local authorities tried their best to solve the problem. There is no excuse why this issue was discovered in 2014, and we are now in 2016 with this problem finally coming to light. As soon as there was a issue detected with Flint’s water supply, immediate action should have been taken by the Flint’s local authorities. This problem could have been easily prevented if they were not trying to take a easy short cut by switching the city’s water supply to save money. It is incredibly dangerous that the people of Flint were told just to boil the water and that it’d be acceptable. The Flint water supply completely violated the Safe Drinking Water Act because the water still contained chemicals, even if it was a low amount of chemicals detected. The water still caused life threatening symptoms that violated the act, and put people’s health in great danger. I do not think Governor Snyder should resign from his job as mayor because it was technically not his fault the water was contaminated, and it is his decision. However, as the mayor it is their job to speak for the community they represent and makes sure that community get their needs met. Governor Snyder failed the people of Flint, Michigan by not speaking up soon enough, and allowing the situation to worsen. He needs to take drastic measures by actually trying to find solutions to correct his mistake in order to redeem himself. The federal government plays a huge role in this crisis continuation because they should be providing the money needed to provide clean water. The government should be making this issue a bigger priority by trying to make sure that all the residents of Flint have proper access to safe drinking water.
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No, I do not think that Flint’s local authorities tried their best to solve the water problem. I do not think that they did because it took them 2 years to address it, which is not okay. Within the two years young child could have been (and were) be severally effected from the amount of lead in the water. In the CNN article Amari it stated, “The health effects listed in the class-action suit include: skin lesions, hair loss, high levels of lead in the blood, vision loss, memory loss, depression and anxiety.” These effects shows that some of them can have a long lasting effect on them like vision loss, memory loss, depression, and anxiety. It’s horrible that this happened to a town that was just trying to save money because now they have people with serious issues. Although this problem could have been prevented if they just left the water system the way it was because then none of this would have happened. On top of that, I believe that Flint’s water supply always did violate the Safe Drinking Water Act because it was never completely safe, it contained either bacterium or low levels of lead, which is not okay. Having low amounts of chemicals can still cause major harm to a young child, and that violets the Safe Drinking Water Act. Also I do not have a say on if Governor Snyder should resign or not because it is up to the people of Flint because they are the ones affected, not me. Also I think that the federal government’s role in this crisis is actually helping on Flint to improve. They are acknowledging Flint’s cry for help and are providing funds for the residents to have safe water. There’s not much more that they can do so I truly respect them for giving Flint so much more. I feel horrible for what Flint had to deal with for 2 years because of the lasting affects on the people.
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I think it is pretty clear that Flint’s local authorities did not try their best to solve the problem. There is a huge time gap from when the problem was detected to when the authority of Flint actually decided to take some action for the problems. There should have been no gap, and as soon as there was a problem and the people complained there should have been some action taken. I think that the water ALWAYS violated the Safe Drinking Water Act because even though they were cleared since their chemical levels were lowered, the levels had already been high and dangerous for the people. Even if they passed with low levels of chemicals, this still meant that there were dangerous chemicals for the people to drink. I think that Governor Snyder should immediately resign as a mayor of Flint. Not only was he aware of the danger that switching Flint’s water source, he allowed his people to drink this water for two years regardless of their complains. Although he was trying to make a cut in the city’s expenses, he only brought more problems that have a higher price than the original $19 million that he was saving. Not only money wise, but health wise as well, the people of Flint are now suffering from terrible health problems due to the contamination of the water that Mayor Snyder could have prevented. I think that the federal government plays a huge role in the fact that they should have interfered way earlier seeing as the water had barely been cleaned. This violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act should have alerted the federal government and should have lead to them taking action and helping the people of Flint.
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I think the local Flint authorities did not try their best to solve this problem. They allowed this problem to go on for far too long and once they realized they were in trouble they still did not do much to solve the situation. This problem could have been prevented if they did not switch where their water supply comes from. I do not think that Flints water supply always violated the Safe Drinking Water Act because they used to have clean water and it used to never be contaminated. The governor should resign from his job if he doesn’t do anything to help the people of Flint. If he does not step in and help this problem fast then they will need someone else to do it. The federal government plays a role in the crisis continuation of getting worse because there is not much they can do since it is a local authorities issue. The government should step in more in order to help the people of Flint because it does not seem like the mayor and other local officials are doing much to help the crisis.
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The Flint authorities could have done a much better job at preventing this situation from continuing. The simple fact that this water problem has been going on for two years is proof that they could have done more. The chemical levels in the water going down from what was a dangerous level of contamination does not justify telling the people of an entire region that the water can be used but to boil it beforehand. In a well developed country like the U.S water should be readily available to its citizens and not harmful. Although the levels were low the water was still a potential harm to the citizens because it was raising the amount of lead in their bodies so I would say that the water continued to violate the Safe Water Drinking Act although it was deemed good enough to drink. Governor Snyder made a large and continuous mistake when it came to this problem but I don’t have a strong opinion to if he should resign or not. He currently seems to be righting his wrongs but I feel like a strong opinion would more likely resonate with the people of Flint. Since the problem with the water supply was not handled earlier and the lead contamination has risen significantly it put the residents of Flint in a state of emergency. As crisis manager the president then comes into play and tries to manage the situation as well as his cabinet by giving money and water to the people of Flint. President Obama has publicly talked about the issue in Flint and has taken up his role in the government as crisis manager and is currently working toward a solution with the local government in Flint.
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I do not believe that Flint’s local authorities tried their best to solve the problem. They went two years with doing practically nothing about the water when people noticed that it did not seem drinkable from the start. Flint’s local authorities should have reached out for help from the government way sooner than they did and should not have let the people of Flint continuing the contaminated water. I do think that Flint’s water supply always violated the Safe Drinking Water Act. USA Today states, “Anyone who drank city tap water was exposed to lead, but children are more susceptible to lead poisoning than adults … There is no safe level of lead in the body, but the impacts of lead are considered most severe on the developing brains and nervous systems of children and fetuses. And even the 8,657 Flint children younger than six exposed to lead may be a low estimate; It doesn’t include unborn children whose mothers drank tainted water during their pregnancies, or children and pregnant women who reside outside Flint but were exposed while visiting relatives, childcare centers or hospitals inside city limits”. Many people who drank the water in Flint because sick due to the level of lead that the water contained. The Safe Drinking Water Act is supposed to protect the quality of drinking water in the United States. The water quality in Flint was not protected at all. In fact, it was the complete opposite. Even if the water was cleared because it had low levels of chemicals, it still had chemicals. People should not be drinking water that contains chemicals that are potentially dangerous to them. In my opinion, the water in Flint did not meet the standards that should have deemed it safe to drink. I do think that Governor Snyder should resign from his job. He continued to let the people of Flint drink contaminated water for two years, thus causing many people and children to get sick from it. He should not be the mayor of a place where he endangered the citizens. I think that the federal government is helping Flint because they are giving $5 million in federal aid to help with the water crisis. However, I think that President Obama should have made a federal disaster declaration because then Flint would be able to get more federal aid.
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I believe that all problems faced in life are avoidable, it is simply the matter in which we make decisions that determine how the outcome is brought about. Of course actions could have been taken sooner, as with all situations. But the real problem with this incident is that the waiting was much longer than understandable, much longer than explainable. The state of Michigan detected this problem back in April of 2014, but there wasn’t a state of emergency issued until January of 2016. Almost two complete years had passed before even an announcement was made about the problem. This does not even take into account the length of time it took to actual attempt to discuss, let alone find the solution to this tragic dilemma.
It might simply be that I am a skeptic, but I feel as though there is always sufficient evidence to believe that an organization could to the smallest, most minuscule possibility be corrupt. For that reason it could have been possible that the water supply was contaminated for many years now, however, it was just impeccably covered up. For the fact that I simply do not have sufficient evidence to make a certain verdict on whether I believe the water was, or has ever been, contaminated, I cannot give an honest and certified response to the cleanliness of the water of Michigan.
The same with the Mayor of Michigan. I know not his take and response on other subjects in his candidacy therefore I could make no judgement on whether he should be condemned from holding public office. Like many political leaders before and after him, he has made a mistake with his plan of action on a very important issue. This does not guarantee that he is unqualified at his job it simply means he must do better next time.
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In my opinion the local officials in Flint did not do nearly enough to solve the drinking water problem. These officials knew that the water was unsafe but decided to ignore it and the effects it had in order to cut costs. This crisis was completely preventable and it says a lot about our government that the people in charge knowingly allowed citizens to ingest dirty water just to save money. Ever since 2014 Flint has violated the Safe Drinking Water Act, the switch to river water was obviously unsafe and never should have passed in the first place. A “low” amount of chemicals admits that there are chemical agents in the water and it never should have been drunk. I do believe that Governor Snyder should resign because he knew about a public health crisis that his own people were going through in the town that he was in charge of, and he didn’t do enough to stop it. It took almost 3 years just to bring attention to the water. The federal government made the Safe Drinking Water Act but they obviously weren’t too keen on enforcing it. The water in Flint has been harmful and dangerous for 3 years, yet the federal government has not stepped in to order the city to change it’s water supply, nor has it done enough to ensure safe water to the locals. This truly is a federal issue since there was knowledge of the crisis but not enough help.
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I do not think that Flint’s local authorities tried their best to solve this problem. Having people use water filters and boil their water isn’t an effective way to make the water safer for the people of Flint Michigan. They should have taken action rather than beat around the bush with little easy ways to take care of the issue. In my opinion I believe that Flints water supply Always violated the Safe Drinking Water Act, even though the chemicals were lowered doesn’t mean its safer, its still has chemicals and is still going to affect the people of Flint. It wasn’t completely safe because there was bacterium in the water as well, which is extremely unsafe. I think that Governor Snyder should resign from his job if he doesn’t something soon, also President Obama has gotten involved isn’t that kind of a wake up call for him to take action and get something done with this issue because it is not good for the people living in these conditions. If he doesn’t do anything soon, yes I think he should resign because he isn’t doing his job effectively. He is obviously qualified to do his job but he should be doing better, taking better action. The federal government plays a role in the crisis getting worse because we already used money from the “Federal Emergency Management Agency” meaning we already used money from the Emergency agency and there probably isn’t much money left to fix this issue, especially with our Federal budget today not being perfect, they may be short money and they need money to fix this issue as soon as possible. The major Health issues that are involved are terrible, its really unfair to the people of Flint dealing with this bacterium/chemical infested water, something really needs to be done.
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I do not think that the authorities did all they could to resolve this problem in an orderly time period. I believe that they could have a addressed it sooner, where this wouldn’t have blown up like it did. Suggesting that people should resolve the issue on their own by doing things like, “Just boiling it”, is not a safe or healthy way at all to fix the problem in this city. There are many other ways that they could have fixed this issue but they chose to, at first, just take the easy way out and see how it affected people. I believe this unsafe, non-drinkable water, has always violated the Safe Drinking Water Act because it was never officially deemed safe for people to drink.
The harmful water could severely damage a person’s lifestyle especially if this person is an elderly person or a small child. The people of the town of flint should be the sole deciders on whether or not Mayor Synder should resign from his position. I personally believe that he is just harming the city, which if this were the mayor of my town, I would suggest that he should resign and make room for someone who is going to be helpful to the town as a whole. He was completely aware that there was a water issue and didn’t immediately try to solve this problem. By saving a little bit of money, it may have cost him a lot more in the long run.
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I don’t think that Flint authorities handled the situation to the best of their ability, and this is because it took them very long to address it. At first since there was only a bacteria in the water, the proper thing to do would be to boil the water (we had a similar problem in Boston with dirty water around 2010). But the fact that the water got worse after the bacteria proves that the authorities didn’t do their best. Sure there could’ve been things that Flint authorities had no control over, but if they knew that something like the water being filled with different dangerous chemicals was going to happen, why didn’t they at least warn the people before it was too late? I feel as if Flint shouldnmt have passed the Safe Drinkin Water Act, because the water was clearly dangerous looking at it now. Before, just a low amount of harmless chemicals inside would be fine, but all of those chemicals before that seemed to be harmless turned the water into something else. That “water” with only a few chemicals has turned into another liquid that’s definitely not water. Snyder should definitely not resign frim GOVERNOR, because I don’t see why there being a problem with the water in Flint should result in him resigning. I feel as if Snyder only tried to find a better source of water for the people of Flint. But sometimes change isn’t a good thing and the problem was handled poorly, but I don’t think he should lose his job because of it. I feel as if the government could easily have warned the people of Flint about the upcoming crisis which they clearly
Knew would happen if they couldn’t fix the bacteria in the water at first. But since they kept their mouths shut, the water was “allowed” to come out of the tap and the showers and it was a bad call by the government.
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It appears apparent that Flint local authorities did not put their best effort in to solve the problem considering nothing was done even after a year of people’s exposure to the contaminated water. Perhaps the town did not have enough money or sources to get the outreach or proper resources to provide once the issue was addressed. This issue could have absolutely been prevented though had the town not cut corners to save money on their water supply.
The safe drinking water act of 1974 was clearly violated when they changed supplies because the town was not providing clean drinking water for its people which is the entire intention of the act. They need to up the regulations and be far more willing to invests in the regulation of something as necessary as water.Prior to the change I am not sure whether the water supply had been clean for drinking and clearly there ability to detect and act on such detections are very low.
I think it is a very precedented act for after a scandal or negative situation occurs that people resign from their position. Perhaps the Governor should resign to take it upon himself given that he is not delivering as he should to his constituents. Fortunately we live within a government where we as voters have the ability to vote a politician out of there seat when the next election comes if there performance was dissatisfying. However I think that perhaps the Governor should try to right his wrong for the people to try to help the situation but not for the next election election cycle
The federal government is in charge of making sure that the rules and regulations detailed in the safe water act are being followed and used. They play a role in the problem continuing to grow and not having detected or addressed the issue earlier or as soon as it became known. Now that is considered a crisis decisions may be harder to make sense there are way more cooks in the kitchen.
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I believe that the local authorities did not do everything they could to prevent the situation that is happening in Flint. With everything that is happening now, it is probably costing the Michigan government more money than if they had kept the same water source. When a problem was first detected, immediate action should have been taken. Yes, it is understandable that the government wanted to save some money somewhere, but water is something very tricky. people need water to drink and to take care of themselves. There should have been a second option for something that could have gotten cut, or switch back to their original source before things got so out of hand.
It is possible that the water supply was never up to code. There are many instances where the rich and powerful will do anything they can to get richer, no matter the expense of others. Just because a specialist says there is a lower level of a harmful thing, does not mean that it is safe. That government should have been more responsible. They should have looked for another water source if they were told it was lowered, not gone. Lowered can mean lower by a little or lowered by a lot, but that does not change anything.
I believe Governor Snyder should resign. It is very clear that he has failed his job and the people he governs over. Like I have said above, it would have been acceptable if he would have looked for a second option after the water came back contaminated, but he did not. After the decision he made, he had to spend $2 million to the city to try and fix the problem. That clearly did not help. Hopefully the city can find a solution to their problem with the $5 million dollars Obama has provided from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The federal government plays a role in the situation not getting better because there is not much else they can do. The federal government has a lot of other issues they must take care of and the water being undrinkable in a city is not at the top of their priorities. That sounds horrible, but it is true. The best that could be done quickly is Obama providing Flint with the $5 million dollars. If the federal government, or Congress were to try and do something, it would take months for something to be decided and voted on and that does not guarantee anything for the residents of Flint.
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I don’t not think that flint officials did the most they could to stop this problem, because it took them a very long time to even start fixing the issue. I mean they basically let people live with a toxic water source for way longer than acceptable. Maybe if they kept their pipes up to date or took proper sanitation methods this wouldn’t happen in the first place. Also they should’ve warned the people or reached out to the government for help earlier than they did. Well officials should have been able to tell that having a few chemicals in the water would eventually lead to having the extrmley toxic water they have now, so maybe before passing it they could have recognized some precursors to the problem they have now. Yes he should deffinitley resign, I mean he let his people live without healthy water, and barley even addressed the problem on time. There’s no doubt he needs to resign. Well the government did give them 5 million dollars to help aid the situation , by maybe they could have acted sooner.
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Flint’s local authorities first order of business is to find a new cleaner source of water for their citizens. While the substitute is found, the authorities need to significantly restructure and renovate their current water cleaning facility in order to provide better water to their citizens in the ling run. This problem could have been prevented years in advance if the federal and state government had been more thorough in their investigations and if the government prioritized people’s safety over health more. In my opinion, Flint’s water did not always violate the safe Water Drinking Act, the water become contaminated due to the procrastination within the government to do proper check ups on the water cleaning facilities. I do not believe a resignation is necessary at the moment because a leader is desperately need in order to properly address the unsafe water issue, however the governor can be put on trial for not properly doing his job and if he is found guilty of letting the water supply in Michigan become so unsafe, then he should be recalled. The federal government’s role could have prevented the whole situation of it had done a better job of regulating and watching over Michigan as well as other states. If the federal government had been more strict about the Safe Water Drinking Act, then the state would not have been allowed to create such poisonous levels of lead leak into the state’s water.
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I personally do not think the Flint’s local authorities tried their best to solve this problem because they should have addressed the issue a lot sooner than they did. This problem could have definitely been prevented by Governor Snyder if he did not decide to change the location from which the city gets its water from. What really shocks me is that he would make a big decision like this without testing the new water location to see if it is safe to drink just like the old one was. In my opinion, Flint’s water supply did violate the Safe Drinking Water Act even though they got cleared from having low amounts of chemicals because Flint did not ensure that the new water supply was going to be drinkable, which completely violates the act. Even though they got cleared from having low amounts of chemicals, there shouldn’t be any chemicals in drinking water. I think that it would be in Governor Snyder’s best interest to resign from his job as governor because he will probably get in a lot of trouble if he remains to be the governor of Michigan. He will most likely get sued anyways due to the fact that he was responsible for a huge mistake that left a lot of people sick, and some even dead. The federal government plays a significant role in the crisis’ continuation of getting worse because the 5 million dollars that they gave the state is probably not enough to solve the problem, if you take into consideration the amounts of bottled water in which they have to hand out to the people in which were affected by the non-drinkable water.
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Having had read the articles that specifically stated that they made efforts to try to fix the issues and they just did work made me skeptical about whether they wanted to fix the problem or not and for this reason I think that the government officials did not do their best to try to solve this issue. Much like Amari mentioned, it is as if they tried to push it to the side and therefore let it slide so that the public does not notice. In the CBS news article that was given the governor states, “In terms of a mistake, what I would say is we found there are probably things that weren’t as fully understood when that switch was made,” the governor said Wednesday.” What really surprises me about this is that it could’ve all been prevented if they would have kept up with it and researched it more. All of what that brought though was more disaster for the state not only because of their water supply but because of all of the money they now have to spend to fix the issue that could’ve been smaller before if they wouldn’t have waited so long.
In connection to what I stated before, I can’t really say if it’s always been an issue but it seems like it’s been something that they’ve tried to patch up for many years instead of trying to fully fix. If the water supplies changed they should have made sure it was to a place that people felt safe because now these people are not only traumatized but also sacred about not being able to trust their own government to secure their safety.
As far as resignation goes, I think that it would be best for someone that is trust worthy and truly cares about the people to be in office because it would make the people feel less afraid. Because of the mistakes that were made, I do not think that he deserves the position anymore.
If the federal government does not fund the correct places to rebuild what is already tumbling down, then not only will the people be in danger but the whole state which can have a domino affect on others who are dependent on the state. It would only make sense and be beneficial if the federal government worked hand in hand with state officials to find the best compromise to fixing this issue once and for all before it is too late.
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