Although the water crisis in Flint, Michigan has been going on for several years, we have found that a surprising number of people don’t know many of the details of the situation, if at all! Here we have gathered research and data about the crisis and condensed it for those of you who may not know!

 

The city of Flint, Michigan has been in the midst of a water crisis several years in the making. It began when in March 2013, Flint city council voted to stop buying Lake Huron water from the Detroit plant, which was a cost-saving measure which was said to save $19 million over the course of 8 years.

 

The plan was to continue buying Lake Huron water, but from a new supply channel that was in the making. The problem was that Detroit shut off its water supply to Flint while the new pipeline was still months away from being completed and the city had to find a new way of supplying its residents with water.

 

In April 2014 the city began to draw water from the Flint River and treat it in its local plant. This treatment lead to a temporary violation of the safe drinking act as a byproduct of the treatment was said to cause severe health problems over the course of several years. Even before that, citizens had complained about the poor taste and smell of the water.

 

Some city council members suggested that the city should stop using water from the Flint River, and Detroit offered to reconnect the city to its plant, (they wouldn’t even charge the $4 million reconnection fee) but Flint declined in order to save money. The water was still being claimed “safe to drink”.

 

Researchers discovered that the water in the Flint River is highly corrosive, causing lead from pipes to seep into the water supply that was being delivered to homes throughout the city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The city was said to introduce a lead-reduction plan by 2016.

 

In September 2015, ten percent of homes saw increases in lead in the water, and children were found with elevated levels of lead in their blood, although city and state officials disputed the findings.

 

Finally, in October 2015 Genesee County officials declared a public health emergency, and urged people not to continue drinking the water.

 

Governor Snyder’s administration announced a plan to spend $1 million on water filters, to test water at Flint schools at state expense, for the expansion of lead exposure testing for individuals and for expediting treatment of water to better control corrosion.

 

Just a few weeks later, the city reverted to using Detroit's Lake Huron water supply, but the damage to the lead in the pipes was done. Even with properly treated water flowing in, Virginia Tech researchers still detected lead levels in water in Flint homes.

 

In January of 2016, when the crisis was finally declared a state of emergency, people in Michigan handed out 234,000 cases of bottled water and 100,000 water filters to the residents of the city. Governor Rick Snyder has since accepted the situation for what it is, which is in fact an emergency, as has President Obama.

 

It is clear this this situation is a human rights violation for thousands of people and knowledge of the crisis is so important for anyone who wishes to help those impacted. We believe that in order for you to get active yourself, you must understand the gravity of the situation that has affected others, and we hope this page has helped you better understand the background of the water crisis.