{"id":17007,"date":"2016-01-27T14:09:36","date_gmt":"2016-01-27T19:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=17007"},"modified":"2016-01-27T14:09:36","modified_gmt":"2016-01-27T19:09:36","slug":"the-flint-water-disaster-a-perfect-storm-of-downplaying-denial-and-deceit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=17007","title":{"rendered":"The Flint Water Disaster: a Perfect Storm of Downplaying, Denial and Deceit"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 class=\"headline\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/2016\/01\/27\/the-flint-water-disaster-a-perfect-storm-of-downplaying-denial-and-deceit\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">The Flint Water Disaster: a Perfect Storm of Downplaying, Denial and Deceit<\/a><\/h3>\n<div class=\"post_content\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-79210\" src=\"http:\/\/uziiw38pmyg1ai60732c4011.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/dropzone\/2016\/01\/shutterstock_366517343.jpg\" alt=\"shutterstock_366517343\" width=\"500\" height=\"331\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Flint, Michigan, the city portrayed as the embodiment of a rust belt city abandoned by deindustrialization in Michael Moore\u2019s allegorical documentary,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0098213\/\"><em>Roger &amp; Me<\/em><\/a><em>,<\/em>\u00a0has recently become a morality play of a different sort as it captures national headlines highlighting a controversial series of decisions creating a major public health crisis that threatens the health of Flint\u2019s children.<\/p>\n<p>After numerous complaints of the rising costs of the City of Detroit\u2019s water and sewerage system, which the city had been dependent on for decades, the City of Flint\u2019s controversial, non-elected, state appointed emergency manager decided in 2013 to switch from Detroit\u2019s water system, and obtain water for the city from the Flint River until an alternative source could be developed.\u00a0 The decision insured, if nothing else, that banks and bondholders to which the city is indebted, would be paid.<\/p>\n<p>The decision ended up being a tragic mistake of major proportions. After the switch was made in April 2014 problems soon developed because the Flint River\u2019s water proved to be highly corrosive, releasing lead from the old plumbing fixtures in Flint\u2019s homes, factories, and schools. The water was so corrosive that the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mlive.com\/news\/flint\/index.ssf\/2014\/10\/general_motors_wont_use_flint.html\">local GM engine plant<\/a>switched their plant\u2019s water system to another supplier because the automaker was concerned that the Flint River water would corrode their auto parts.<\/p>\n<p>Tragically, the situation could have been avoided if the state had followed the EPA mandate to install corrosive preventative measures when lead levels in drinking water exceed recommended levels. \u00a0State officials further undermined the state\u2019s integrity and the public\u2019s confidence<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mlive.com\/news\/flint\/index.ssf\/2015\/12\/auditors_report_says_corrosion.html\">\u00a0by claiming they were not required to install mandatory corrosive controls<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As lead levels rapidly rose to levels far exceeding the U.S. EPA\u2019s recommended lead levels in public drinking water, Flint residents complained of malodorous, darkly colored water flowing from their home faucets, hair loss, headaches, and itchy eyes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;click on the above link to read the rest of the article&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Flint Water Disaster: a Perfect Storm of Downplaying, Denial and Deceit Flint, Michigan, the city portrayed as the embodiment of a rust belt city abandoned by deindustrialization in Michael Moore\u2019s allegorical documentary,\u00a0Roger &amp; Me,\u00a0has recently become a morality play of a different sort as it captures national headlines highlighting a controversial series of decisions [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[11194,1330,11077,12009,11078,12010,9703,866,4845],"class_list":["post-17007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","tag-deceit","tag-denial","tag-flint","tag-gregory-button","tag-michigan","tag-public-health-crisis","tag-us-environmental-protection-agency","tag-water","tag-water-contamination"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17007"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17008,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17007\/revisions\/17008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}