In 2013, Flint decided to stop buying water from Detroit's water authority, its source since the 1960s, and instead, along with a few neighboring communities, build its own system.
Flint's water bills were high, and critics blasted Detroit as a "Price-gouging monopoly." By maintaining its own water supply, Flint could save money and gain some control over its destiny.
"Showering seemed to be connected with skin rashes and hair loss. The water smelled foul. A sip of it put the taste of a cold metal coin on your tongue." Five months after the switch, General Motors, still the city's largest employer, stopped using Flint River water out of concern that it was causing car parts to rust.
Government authorities were forced to acknowledge that they had a crisis on their hands in September 2015, when Marc Edwards, a renowned environmental engineer who led a testing initiative, confirmed that Flint's water contained toxic levels of lead. Less than two weeks later, a pediatrician at a local hospital, Mona Hanna-Attisha, announced that the rate of small children in Flint with high blood-lead levels had almost doubled since the city switched water sources and had nearly tripled in some neighborhoods.
In the wake of these revelations, Flint was promptly linked back up to the Detroit water system and abandoned its plan to join the Karegnondi Water Authority.
In addition to being poor and shrunken, Flint is a majority-minority city, which feeds The Poisoned City's thesis that Flint children were exposed to lead because of implicit racial discrimination.
Flint might be a case study in urban America's structural challenges, but it's also a parable about the importance of leadership.
https://www.city-journal.org/html/flint-water-crisis-16071.html
Flint's water bills were high, and critics blasted Detroit as a "Price-gouging monopoly." By maintaining its own water supply, Flint could save money and gain some control over its destiny.
"Showering seemed to be connected with skin rashes and hair loss. The water smelled foul. A sip of it put the taste of a cold metal coin on your tongue." Five months after the switch, General Motors, still the city's largest employer, stopped using Flint River water out of concern that it was causing car parts to rust.
Government authorities were forced to acknowledge that they had a crisis on their hands in September 2015, when Marc Edwards, a renowned environmental engineer who led a testing initiative, confirmed that Flint's water contained toxic levels of lead. Less than two weeks later, a pediatrician at a local hospital, Mona Hanna-Attisha, announced that the rate of small children in Flint with high blood-lead levels had almost doubled since the city switched water sources and had nearly tripled in some neighborhoods.
In the wake of these revelations, Flint was promptly linked back up to the Detroit water system and abandoned its plan to join the Karegnondi Water Authority.
In addition to being poor and shrunken, Flint is a majority-minority city, which feeds The Poisoned City's thesis that Flint children were exposed to lead because of implicit racial discrimination.
Flint might be a case study in urban America's structural challenges, but it's also a parable about the importance of leadership.
https://www.city-journal.org/html/flint-water-crisis-16071.html
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