I attached pages of info i found. I have about 7 pages. I need to have a 10 page paper. I have searched up the lessons learrned on the flint water crisis. I need information added on hard details and facts from about jan 2017-now.
2 Running head: FLINT WATER CRISIS Flint Water Crisis Student name: Instructor: Course title: Date: The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, started in 2014 when there was a alteration in the supply of drinking water from Detroit’s system to the Flint River as a means of saving expenditures (“Lessons from Flint,” 2017) . This was deemed as a formula of ecofriendly prejudice and depraved decision making as there was insufficient treatment and analysis of the water quality which resulted to health concerns for the inhabitants of Flint. The government representatives ignored and disregarded these concerns notwithstanding the intensification of protests concerning the dirty, foul-smelling and off-tasting water that was supplied into households for 18 months. This water caused hair damage, itchy skin and rashes all over the bodies of the residents. It was established by the Michigan Civil Rights Commission that such poor governmental reaction was a result of systematic discrimination. The polluted water also contributed to the elevation of blood lead intensities in children which impeded the wellbeing of the city’s youngest generation. The Flint River which gushed through the core of the town functioned as an unauthorized waste disposal site for local industries that developed alongside its shores (“Lessons from Flint,” 2017). Such industries included car workshops and factories, paper mills and meatpacking plants which disposed both treated and untreated waste. It was also believed that the river caught fire twice and received toxics from leaching landfills. The city’s economy developed as commercial activities along the river also progressed and in the mid-20th century, Flint turned out to be the thriving home to approximately 200,000 individuals many of which were laboring at the flourishing automobile industry (Melissa, 2018). However, in 1980, there was an increase in oil costs and auto imports which occasioned to the shutting down of general motors and auto plants. This caused the laying-off of workers who eventually relocated. The populace of the city dropped to approximately 100,000 and about 45 percent of the inhabitants lived below the poverty line. In 2011, Flint city fell short of revenue and bore a $25 million deficit. The city was placed under state control and a substitute manager was appointed by the Michigan Governor Rick Synder to supervise and cut city expenses. Consequently, the catastrophic resolution to end the city’s five-decade exercise of channeling treated water from Detroit for the inhabitants’ usage was hastened and replaced by a low-cost alternative (Melissa, 2018). The alternative manager decided to provisionally propel water from the Flint River until the construction of a new water channel from Lake Huron was completed. Flint River was greatly corrosive but the officials failed to treat the water hence leading the leakage of lead from aging pipes and into thousands of households. The city administrators upheld that water from the Flint River was harmless and safe for usage in spite of objections by inhabitants heaving containers of dirty water. Scientists from Virginia Tech conducted an investigation which exposed the problem. Water samples were collected from 252 households and tests conducted indicated that lead levels had grown citywide (“Lessons learned from Flint,” 2016). It was also established that approximately 17 percent of samples recorded beyond the federal action level of 15 amounts per billion which was the level at which counteractive action ought to be taken. The alteration of channeling water from Detroit to Flint River overlapped with an epidemic of Legionnaires’ disease which is a grave form of pneumonia. This steered the death of 12 individuals and the ailment of at least 87 people amid the months of June 2014 and October 2015 (Melissa, 2018). The city’s failure to uphold adequate chlorine levels for the treatment of the water brought about the third largest outburst of Legionnaires’ illness documented in U.S history. This demonstrates that Flint’s water was not only afflicted by the presence of lead. Eventually, the city administrators decided unequivocally to escalate chlorine levels deeming it a counteractive measure while disregarding other fundamental matters (“Lessons learned from Flint,” 2016). This generated a new problem which was the raised intensities of total trihalomethanes which are cancer triggering elements that are by-products of water chlorination. After the Flint crisis, the government opted to supply bottled drinking water. Since then, Flint became flooded with masses of plastic water bottles from well-meant contributors. These donations indeed aided most inhabitants for a period of time, but it could not be viewed as a justifiable resolution. The need to drink water, wash and make other uses of the water would necessitate approximately 200 bottles of water on a daily basis which would sum up to 20.4 million bottles per day (Melissa, 2018). Moreover, this strategy was problematic since there was a rise in the number of empty plastic water bottles that were devastating the municipal reprocessing system, filling the city’s landfills and contaminating vicinities. The sequence of occasions leading-up Flint’s water catastrophe bring about a list of ethics morals and acquiescence that relate as considerably to corporations as they do to municipal administrators: wellbeing and safety contemplations should never be succeeded by expenditure cuts. The Flint crisis brings to light broader lessons for public health, lessons concerning the consequences of cost cutting, government negligence as well as environmental racism. The events that went down in Flint city provide necessary lessons on how to ensure better performance in the future in safeguarding public health and upholding required regulations and policies. First, it is known by most individuals that clean water is a fundamental human right as established by the resolution number 64/292 that was passed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2010(“Lessons from Flint,” 2017) . This right was deprived from the inhabitants of Flint city and repeatedly violated by public authorities in the name of saving expenditure. Detroit offered Flint officials a proposition to revert the original water supply in 2015, January, but this proposal was rejected notwithstanding the growing numbers of concerns (Melissa, 2018). It is without a doubt that appointed administrators and officials have the duty to ensure resources and funds are balanced and public resources are used responsibly in spite of competing demands of insufficient funds. Flint officials hastened to make the decision that implementing cost saving mechanisms that would function short-term in the public health department would not have dire consequences. Second, as the Flint case became clear, local inhabitants elevated their concerns about the water quality and their intention was creating an opening for the officials to reverse the course taken. This opportunity was neglected and it embodied in many forms the failure of required reactions from the government. The officials treated the public concerns as an irritant and as matters that did not necessitate an immediate stern response. Governance is known to be the chief element of the health of citizens. The failure of the government to react to the matters raised and outcries in Flint depict that there ought to be endorsed and necessitated a responsive governance as a core tenet of public health (“Lessons from Flint,” 2017). The social, economic and cultural resources distributions are under the control of elected officials and they ought to be the foundational drivers of health. Third, it is clearly perceived that the magnitudes of ecological prejudice are profound and maleficent especially if they relate to public health. The situation of Flint city promotes the menace of ecological discrimination. This is because distresses from a primarily marginal and downgraded communal went unheard. The Flint water crisis also establishes the manner in which class, race and supremacy impact the health and wellbeing of the public. Those in authority consider it to be easier to overlook the issues raised by individuals who are already marginalized and who exert miniature operative influence (“Lessons learned from Flint,” 2016). This reinforces the responsibility of public health to address the challenges that are disproportionately faced by vulnerable low-income and minority populations. Fourth, the Flint water crisis brings to the fore the significance of ethics, morals and values which trigger our actions and omissions, our priorities and our decision making capabilities. It also influences the upbringing of the kind of civilization we would want to see. The U.S is still facing prevalent challenges in matters concerning admittance to sufficient resources by citizens (Melissa, 2018). The right to good health should stand as an unquestionable worth and a joint obligation that should animate municipal deeds and responses regardless of the race, class or location of the individuals at risk. Water is a natural resource that falls from the skies. However, expenses are needed to treat and channel the same water into households. National and municipal funding is of absolute necessity to facilitate municipalities and to render this vital amenity thus empowering occupants to substitute lead provision lines and drainage systems. References Lessons from Flint: It's not just the water system that's broken. (2017, January 28). HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lessons-from-flint-its-no_b_9100654 Melissa Denchak. (2018, November 8). Flint water crisis: Everything you need to know. NRDC. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/flint-water-crisis-everything-you-need-know Lessons learned from Flint, Michigan's water crisis. (2016, April 6). Environmental Defence. https://environmentaldefence.ca/2016/03/17/lessons-learned-from-flint-michigans-water-crisis/ .