How was this allowed to happen?

Welcome to the free market, I mean, deregulated monopoly.

It seems to have been an attempt to save money with no regard for people’s health. There are pictures of the water here

Vote Republican and enjoy your smaller government!

@jaytkay is the most accurate.

As I understand it, it’s all about money and politics. People die because state politicians don’t want to spend money to keep people alive.

Michigan’s version of population control. (and most of Flint is inhabited by blacks, which is why they got away with it,

The republican part’s answer to ‘death panels”.

@jaytkay bullseye!

Well, the governor just wasn’t aware of the severity of the problem, it seems.

Now the federal government is going to bail out a man-made disaster deliberately created and ignored until it reached crisis proportions.

So all the American tax payers get to pay to clean up a mess created to save Flint money.

@ibstubro I hadn’t seen your earlier question.
Having looked into it the problem seems to have been the appointment of an ‘emergency manager’ for Flint. The ‘emergency manager’ had dictatorial Soviet style powers over the city and over the elected city council and mayor. None of the checks and balances you expect in a functioning democracy were operating and so it’s not a complete surprise that a decision was made to save money without due regard to public health.

Well, and Nero fiddled while Rome burned, @flutherother.
I’ve been loosely following the story for months. I think there’s a lot to flint being a poor town full of poor people, so they got poor representation.

What part of “We’re charging people $100’s a month for city water that they have to spend $100’s a month replacing with bottle water” didn’t get someone’s attention??

A state of emergency was called in October and the governor starts sending state patrol around with filters and water in January? And suddenly it’s a national disaster?

I consider myself fairly conservative?
I almost see this as an extension of the “Black Lives Matter” protest. That egregious a disregard for the health and lives of the lower classes.

I’m so disgusted these people have been drinking that water. How did it come to light that the water was poisoned?

@JLeslie

Most of this is from the slide show here

April of 2014 – People started complaining about the taste and smell soon after the water source was changed.

August 2014 – Boil water order advisory due to fecal contamination

October 2014 – General Motors says the water is too corrosive for its Flint engine plant

January 2015 – City notifies customers it is in violation of Safe Drinking Water Act due to presence of chemicals linked to liver and kidney problems and cancer

September 2015 – Studies show elevated lead levels in the blood of Flint infants and children

October 2015 – County declare health emergency, tells citizens not to drink city water

I just messaged my friend who grew up near Flint. Luckily, none of her family is on the contaminated water source.

Is it a civil rights issue?

2 years ago I would have scoffed at the idea.
About now, I’m seeing the link.
Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton are not the ones to lead this outcry IMO. Too much baggage for the older generation, not relevant for the younger.

I thought I’d mention that I heard this story on the Radio New Zealand news this morning, that Obama has declared a state of emergency (Wednesday January 20)

Yes, @Adagio. What that means us now the entire country gets to pay 75% of whatever it costs to fix this problem. Since the toxic water is corroding the entire pipe network, it could be in the billions of dollars.

If it’s consolation to you, @Seek, on NPR today they said that the EPA now admits ‘they could have done a better job of monitoring the water’ in Flint. Maybe even ‘pressured officials to take action sooner’.

Like before the country was stuck with the billion dollar tab.