Artez Hendricks

3/19/16

One of the most important things for a town or city is the how the
water is filtered all throughout the land. The water must be properly clean
and maintained for many years for the town or city to have good water
infrastructure, or a good water sector. The water sector is a specific plan
addresses risk-based critical infrastructure protection strategies for drinking
water and wastewater utilities, regulatory primacy agencies, and an array of
technical assistance partners. The Plan describes processes and activities to
enable the protection, and increased resilience, of the sectors infrastructure.
Even if all of this is true, there are still some who would rather take the easy
way of doing instead of the safe way.
For almost half-a-century, Flint purchased water from Detroit, which
properly treated the water with orthophosphate, a chemical that essentially
coated the pipes as water flowed through them, preventing lead from
leaching into the water supply. Flint switched from Detroits water supply to
the Flint River in 2014, in part to save money. But the city did not use
corrosion control to prevent lead from entering the water. The river itself was
also found to contain eight times more chloride than Detroits water, a
chemical that is highly corrosive to metals. Most residents in Flint have
decades-old lead service lines that connect their homes to the citys main
water pipes. When water from the river flowed through those pipes, it ate
away at their insides, allowing lead to enter the supply. Once Flint switched

its water supply, most Flint residents knew it immediately. Residents

described the water coming from their taps often as a brownish-yellow and
said it both smelled and tasted odd. Also some of the wildlife started to stop
drinking the water and out right avoided the water. It was later discovered
that the water was carrying significant amounts of lead, which can prove
especially damaging to children. In October 2015, the city switched back to
the Detroit water supply, but Flints water is still deemed unsafe to drink.
This cause an uproar from the residents asking why the water was the way it
is or why the government had forsaken them. The government didnt give
them a straight answer, saying that everything that can be done is being
done. Many people believe that whats happened in Flint is a prime example
of Environmental Racism or prejudice based on race and/or poverty that is
factored into the quality of infrastructure a city, state, or country. Over 100
Flint children have high levels of lead poisoning and there could be many
more. This can cause a sharp decline in intelligent and multi-generation
problems and the effects are irreversible. When asked So, is the water safe
to drink? Michigan Governor Rick Snyder replied No. Lead is a deadly
neurotoxin that, if ingested, can cause multi-generational stunted growth &
brain damage. The water must be treated with an anti-corrosive agent which
wouldve only cost $100 a day, Michigan state legislation hasnt considered
this yet, hence the environmental racism beliefs.
The only way for the Water Sector is to be improve is if all the pipes are
replaced, and this process could take weeks, months, and maybe even years.

Hopefully, when this problem is fixed, in the future we can solve this problem
without so much public distrust aimed at the government and have a safer,
and a less costly water sector everywhere.