ENV100Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 26: Waterborne Diseases, Manslaughter, Flint Water Crisis
Module 3: June 4-June 15
Date: Friday, June 8
SESSION 28: GUEST LECTURE: FLINT WATER CRISIS
By Noah Hall
Flint - midwestern U.S. city, an hour from Detroit, an hour away from Lake Huron
●Impoverished - half in poverty; majority is a minority
●Bombarded with toxic pollution - poor air quality, low life expectancy, child health is terrible long
before the water crisis unfolded
●Michigan is the peninsula of Great Lakes
●City of Detroit built a massive pipeline and delivered clean drinking water for 50 years - water and
pipes are there, but what is failing is the government's
Michigan - allow state to takeover the city, if the city is considered not financially healthy - a
loaded system
●8 of 10 largest cities were taken by the state
●Not mistakes of self-governance
●After state took over Flint, they wanted to suck wealth out, send the harm there (put the
undesirable things there), and cut corners to spend money elsewhere
●State wanted more money and less expenses
●Water came from Flint River with no water treatment plant ($50-80 million), put some chemicals in
it → violation of safe drinking act, e coli, methanes → story unfolded
○Leaching lead, water corroded pipes (also causes diseases)
○Smelled bad, wasn’t clear, taste bad, etc.
April 2014 Water Changed
●October 2014 - General Motors came off because the water is corroding machinery
●Disregard for consideration for citizen
●Safe level for lead in drinking water: zero (lead in water as a result of lead pipes)
○Lead affects your brains (makes you sick and takes away your mind - neurotoxin)
○Most effects to developing brains
○Cost Benefit Analysis - give everything a dollar value, taking out lead pipes will cause
○U.S. EPA puts a dollar value on statistical value of individuals in america (8-9 million)
■Trade your life for doing things to protect your life
■Compromise: 15 parts per billion of lead in drinking water (allowable level: trade
off between health and saving money) - not a minimum standard
■A community is in compliance with safe drinking water act if no more than 10% of
the population is drinking water over that lead level - sacrifice 10% to save
money (minority, uneducated, poor, people who don’t speak English)
■Turns administration to state or local governments → difference in ability to
support people; inequitable; Citizen Enforcement - We count on outside folks to
blow the whistle
Citizens went to the press and leaked the report. EPA failed and they couldn’t care about Flint.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
Flint - midwestern u. s. city, an hour from detroit, an hour away from lake huron. Impoverished - half in poverty; majority is a minority. Bombarded with toxic pollution - poor air quality, low life expectancy, child health is terrible long before the water crisis unfolded. Michigan is the peninsula of great lakes. City of detroit built a massive pipeline and delivered clean drinking water for 50 years - water and pipes are there, but what is failing is the government"s. Michigan - allow state to takeover the city, if the city is considered not financially healthy - a loaded system. 8 of 10 largest cities were taken by the state. After state took over flint, they wanted to suck wealth out, send the harm there (put the undesirable things there), and cut corners to spend money elsewhere. State wanted more money and less expenses.
