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Flint Water Crisis Analysis

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On January 16, 2016, the city of Flint, Michigan was declared in a state of emergency after it was discovered that the city’s water contained dangerous amounts of lead. After a switch in water supply in April 2014, the number of children in Flint with elevated lead levels in their blood nearly doubled from 2013 to 2015 (Newland 2016). The Flint water crisis attracted national attention and led to a class-action lawsuit filed by city residents. Many Americans were shocked that the land of opportunity could fail the residents of Flint so badly. Many also pointed out that such a problem would not be likely in a more affluent area of the United States. While the United States is not lacking in quality water, the infrastructure delivering water …show more content…
Popular examples of water-related diseases include the fecal-oral transmission of a pathogen (Bary and Hughes 2008). Lack of access to water, or water scarce infections can be particularly harmful as inadequate sanitation and hygiene is implicated in about 50 infectious diseases, Burki (2015) found. Particularly in the United States, lead contamination in pipe borne water and and mercury poisoning in people who have ingested large fish that accumulate toxic are cause for concern, according to Bary and Hughes (2008). Lead poisoning, as in the case of Flint, is both majorly preventable and incredibly harmful. High levels of lead in the blood levels of children can deter learning and behavior development, as well as potentially cause seizures, coma, and death (Centers For Disease Control And Prevention 1997). In Flint, the water crisis was also linked to an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, which led to the death of 10 Flint …show more content…
In the Navajo Nation, it was found that 30% of inhabitants lacked piped water. According to the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water survey in California (2005), “Counties with the highest number of drinking water violations had a higher proportion of people of Latino ethnicity than counties with the lowest number of violations (42% vs 16%).” Currently, it is extremely difficult to pinpoint exact disparity assessments. According to the U.S. Census Bureau American housing survey, 96% of Americans use various community water services, none of which collect race or income information. In order to reduce the amount of Americans without access to clean water, the best method would be to identify residents to measure reliable disparity assessments (VanDerslice 2011). Balazs and Ray found that race and class were imbedded in multiple “causes” of health disparities regarding water (2014). Balazs and Ray

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