Demonstrating that both knew they weren't providing something worth a crap and cannot possibly argue to the contrary. Otherwise, they'd partake.
My first reaction to Michael Moore is, **** Michael Moore. I didn't read the article, but the first thing I read about him and this issue is he says this was done on purpose to kill black people.
One of the things he mentions is that GM complained about the water and quickly had their lines switched back to Lake Huron. It seems that indeed the people didn't matter but the corporation did.
The water source was fine and passed drinking standards coming out of the water plant not adding the additive to coat the water lines is the issue.
You keep saying this like it makes any difference. If one draws from the Great Lakes, the water isn't as corrosive because it has less dissolved chloride ions in it. By switching the sources but not treating the water to accommodate for this, it being good enough when it leaves the treatment plant matters **** all because it will be passing through lead pipes. Municipalities drawing from the Great Lakes don't have to worry about this as much. What happened was the state government wanted to switch sources to save money, and skip any additional costs that arose. Water being drinkable doesn't mean it is the same as all other drinkable water in terms of what it contains and how it will interact with it's surroundings. The elevated choride ions in the river is from the overuse of salt on roads, by the way.
The city voted to change water sources. I don't think the state pushed it. Once that they voted to change water sources Detroit upped their service charge, which pushed them to use their emergency source till their new sources finished construction.
The water source wasn't exactly fine. The high levels of bacteria in the river were part of the problem. Treatment of this paired with the high chloride content of the river led to elevated levels of trihalimethane. So it didn't pass standards when leaving the plant. That was the problem back in January 2015. That's why the state was shipping in drinking water to its employees. THMs aren't acutely toxic but they're carcinogenic. The lead issue was primarily the result of 1) Corrosivity was high in the water to begin with 2) Iron chloride salts are cheaper than other coagulants and were therefore selected and used in high quantities due to the large amount of organic matter that had to be removed from the Flint river 3) Extra chlorine was added due to high bacteria (elevating THM) 4) The THM had to be treated to make the water safe and the decision was made to use more chlorine-containing chemicals rather than ozone or UV. This further accelerated chlorine attack on the pipes. Then it was just a matter of time.
I trust your breakdown and understand that it wasn't perfect or ideal by any stretch . But wasn't it passing all federal requirements leaving the water plant?
It was recently. And at no point was lead an issue at the source/plant. I was just saying they were in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act in 2014 and 2015 due to the trihalomethane levels.
Another aspect of the sad situation is that it's just being politicized. The Rs are racists demons, you know. The problem with that is that it obscures the much X more important problem. Government in general failed here. The process failed. And a public health crisis resulted. We need to understand where the wrong turns were taken and what checks weren't in place to prevent such errors. We can't let it go as cheap racist Republicans wanted black people to die. It's fair to ask if the respond would have been different for other cities but we need to understand how it happened first. My guess is that the state was told by scientists that there was no need for corrosion protection but that the study was performed before the state started treating the THM with chlorine-containing chemicals. Perhaps no one ever went back to revisit the study.
That and government is horrible at maintaining infrastructure since it doesn't get any publicity or ribbon cutting event.
I watched some of the hearing yesterday. It was an absolute disgrace. The R's spent their time blaming the EPA and the D's spent their time blaming the Governor. In my opinion the fault was most likely 80% State and 20 % EPA. At least show some balance in your disingenuous outrage.
I saw some of it and could not agree more. This ridiculous partisan finger pointing accomplishes nothing, but has sadly become the standard from our elected officials. Yet some continue to be perplexed by Trump's support this cycle. Just another example of the 'why' hiding in plain sight.
Absolutely. Nobody in the government, at any level, cares about genuine solutions because that might cost a vote someday, even if it's the right thing to do. Term limits is the only real solution / and it isn't a good one. The money has to come out of politics.
