Two years ago the city of Flint, Michigan switched its water source from Detroit’s treated water, to that of the local Flint River. The switch was an attempt to hold down costs until it was able to begin accessing water from Lake Huron via the yet-to-be built KWA pipeline.. The events that followed are now known to the majority of the state, even the country, as national headlines highlighted accelerated levels of lead contamination in Flint. Through this media frenzy, Flint has become a trending national topic and blame for the aftermath of the switch is being passed around at Olympic speed.
On Wednesday March 16th IPPSR hosted a forum with a packed room in the Anderson House office building to discuss one of the most pressing issues in Michigan, The Flint Water Crisis. A panel of experts consisting of Josh Sapotichne, Assistant Professor of Political Science; Mona Hanna-Attisha, Director of the Pediatric Residency Program at Hurley Medical Center, and; Janice Beecher, Director of the MSU Institute for Public Utilities gave an insightful and educated look into the origins, current situation, and future of Flint water.
The event started off with a few words from Ari Adler, the Director of Communications and officer of Governor Rick Snyder. Ari began with an assurance that the Snyder administration is well aware of the problems at hand and are actively working to fix it. He went on to say that they are “addressing a culture in State Gov. that looks at how we are putting people first, so we're not just checking a box that fits a standard but rather keeping the people’s interest first”. It was this tone of compassion that encompassed the rest of Ari’s opening remarks, as he continued to assure the audience that Flint will not be overlooked, and that the administration is trying to find ways to prevent future mishaps.
After Mr. Adler’s opening Dr. Josh Sapotichne kicked off the presentations with an emphasis on the policies and processes in place that contributed to Flint’s current situation. “We can do better than simply saying this is a failure of bureaucratic processes” Josh continued as he pointed out that, although convenient, placing blame on the system at large does not help prevent future incidents. Josh then continued to claim that the State of Michigan has policies in place that set up cities like Flint for financial failure. Josh stated that Michigan’s emergency manager policy disregards local inputs to problems, and that this lack of local-state relationship contributes greatly to financial and social stress. He followed that the state needs to regain trust of local governments when emergencies are present, and that the short term fiscal focus of the emergency manager policy does not work well for most long-term solutions.
Next in the forum was Mona Hanna-Attisha, who turned the focus onto the medical consequences that lead-heavy drinking water brings. She started by informing the audience that there is no safe level of lead in drinking water and that exposure can have long-term effects on cognition and behavior, especially on children. Mona went further to explain that the effects of lead have a disproportionately high impact on minorities and low income groups. Despite bleak and possibly permanent health outcomes, Mona was optimistic. She noted a unique opportunity to build a model public health program that helps limit the negative effects of exposure and could be used by for other communities. Mona claimed that the effects of lead can be partially offset with increased access to education and nutrition and that the city should do its best to provide these resources to those who cannot afford them. Mona closed by stating that the situation in Flint should be separated from the political framework, but instead help should come based on humanitarian obligations.
Closing off the forum was Janice Beecher who brought a regulatory perspective on the causes and solutions to the situation in Flint. She started off by noting that “Initially, what happened in Flint was an operational, institutional and regulatory problem”. She continued that there are multiple regulations and rules in place prohibiting any amount of lead in water. She went on to state however, that because of the current chain of commands, there are weak points that are susceptible to oversights and that these need to be addressed. She proposed creating more proactive regulations in Michigan and allocating more money to the crumbling infrastructure throughout the state before more problems arise. She suggested increasing water control staffing levels, giving more local autonomy, increasing staff competence and training and lowering the regressivity of water rates to create a healthier system.
Now that the dust has settled, and people are more knowledgeable of the crisis in Flint, we are able to reflect on the situation and use it to make productive and potent changes for Flint, and Michigan as a whole. The Flint situation, though tragic, has opened the doors for better and more responsive policy that will help prevent future outbreaks not just in the state, but in the country. This is precisely the tone set by the forum: examining mistakes and learning from them. All three panelists shared this message, and as the infrastructure in Flint eventually becomes repaired Michigan will hopefully be able to learn from its past and create healthy productive policy for the future.
