Hashtag - Flint Water Crisis

The providing of clean air, safe drinking water, solid waste management and flood control are all basic public services that people who pay taxes expect to receive. Too bad the people running the city of Flint, and the state of Michigan never received the memo. It's also too bad that the federal Environmental Protection Agency sat on the sidelines while Flint’s water supply was being diminished.

In the spring of 2014, the city of Flint stopped using Detroit's water system and instead began pumping its water from the Flint River. This was a cost-cutting measure designed to be temporary until the city could connect to a regional water system that was then under construction.

 In September of 2015, the Associated Press reported that: "A group of doctors led by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha of Hurley Medical Center urges Flint to stop using the Flint River for water after finding high levels of lead in the blood of children.” However, state regulators still insisted the water is safe.

If you search #FlintWaterCrisis in Twitter you'll find a steady stream of tweets regarding the water situation in Flint. The crisis in Flint has now gained national attention creating a fire storm on social media. Flint switched its drinking water source from the Detroit system to the Flint River in April 2014 to save money while the cash-strapped city was led by an emergency manager appointed by the Republican governor. The city returned to Detroit water in October after testing detected increased lead levels in residential water supplies and in children's blood. Although the city has now switched back to the Detroit water system, the water from the Flint River has damaged the city's water pipes and released lead and other pollutants from the pipes into the water supply. Had the state required corrosion protection chemicals to be added to the Flint River's water, the lead pollution might have been avoided, but the state agency neglected to enforce this requirement. Now, in order to use the public water system, in-home filters must be used and changed frequently to ensure that the water is safe. Usage of social media to bring awareness to the crisis is not a bad idea because it is getting the attention of many as intended.

While Flint residents are not the only frustrated about this situation, many celebrities, social activists, Film Maker and Flint Native Michael Moore and even Flints own mayor Karen Weaver have spoken out via social media about the crisis.

Flint's water crisis is not exactly a natural disaster but it is a disaster of poor management based on the philosophy of cost-cutting at all costs. Michigan’s poor management is harming the environment, public health, and everyone's finances. There are no short-cuts, and the sooner the people running our governments and businesses figure that out, the sooner we can proceed with the real work of growing our economy without destroying our home planet. Snyder's application said as much as $55 million is needed in the near term to repair damaged lead service lines and as much as $41 million to pay for several months of water distribution and providing residents with testing, water filters and cartridges. Therefore, it seems as though their idea of saving money has made a complete wrong turn and will end up costing them more than what they saved.