What's the deal with the water in Flint?

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > What's the deal with the water in Flint?

BlackIronHeart: Aug 2, 2004; The Oath Breaker's about to hit warphead nine Kaptain!

boom boom boom posted:

OK, somebody linked to this article

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/16/flints-water-crisis-what-went-wrong

and I think the basic deal is Flint was on Detroit water, told Detroit they were gonna switch over to a new system, Detroit said "gently caress you, pay us more for the water you're getting until the switchover happens" and the Flint government decided to use the poison river water in the interum instead, and hope nobody noticed before they switched to the new water system

It's a bit more complicated and hosed up than that. The Detroit Free Press has written about it quite a bit.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/01/16/president-obama-declares-emergency-flint/78898604/

quote:

In what's become a huge government scandal, garnering headlines across the country and around the world, Flint's drinking water became contaminated with lead after the city temporarily switched its supply source in 2014 from Lake Huron water treated by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to more corrosive and polluted Flint River water, treated at the Flint water treatment plant.

The switch was made as a cost-cutting move while the city was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager. The state Department of Environmental Quality has acknowledged a mistake in failing to require the addition of needed corrosion-control chemicals to the water. That caused lead, which causes brain damage and other health problems in children, to leach into the water from pipes and fixtures.

Basically, our Governor appointed an Emergency Manager to run the city because it was in bad financial straits. The appointed EM, Darnell Earley, went about slashing and cutting costs to try and resolve the financial situation. Not that he wants to admit that now, of course.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/14/in-flint-bad-tap-water-runs-politically-deep/

quote:

Snyder used a state law to appoint an emergency manager, a process that began in 2011. And along with the emergency manager came a board to whom the manager could appeal to override decisions made by Flint's non-partisan, elected city council. In short, Flint has spent years under emergency manager control, a person whose primary charge appears to have been cutting costs.

That same emergency manager, Darnell Earley, has denied that he is responsible for the current crisis. He says the Flint City Council voted to make use of the cheaper water supply from the river as part of a larger plan to join that new regional water system. He says he privately objected to using Flint River water, but local reporters did not find a mention of switching the city's water supply to the Flint River in the related council resolution.

And when The Fix spoke briefly with Flint Ward 2 Councilwoman Jacqueline Poplar Wednesday, she could not have been more emphatic. The city council never voted to approve the shift in the city's water supply. Never, she said. And with that Poplar advised The Fix Earley is now the emergency manager of Detroit Public Schools and wished us goodnight.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2016 02:03

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 17:16

BlackIronHeart: Aug 2, 2004; The Oath Breaker's about to hit warphead nine Kaptain!

It's weird how this situation creates questions like 'Is hanging someone in effigy protected under the First Amendment?'

# ¿ Feb 7, 2016 00:06

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > What's the deal with the water in Flint?