The Flint Water Crisis – A Result Of Economic Progress And Development

Pollution is not the price of progress. Whether it is air, water, animals, pollution through those venues are externalities that will minimally affect the companies who are creating it, but more so those who live around it, such as the people of Flint Michigan. For years, the Federal government was mandating that General Motors follow proper waste procedures to include the Flint City government was supposed to ensure that proper water treatment was conducted, but instead that did not happen and the quick solution in order to build more cars, they switched the water system to the Detroit water supply system in order to make more money. Both the city government and General Motors leaders were morally wrong.

The moral and economic issues stemming the Flint water crisis is a reminder that there should always be someone with the knowledge and education of what clean affordable water does to a city, its animals, citizens, and air. Not following federally mandated protocol was morally wrong as both General Motors leaders and the city government officials knew of proper water treatment requirements but still chose not to do this. In an effect to gain financial profit, GM pushed to have the water grid run off the Detroit water supply with still no action on anti-corrosive treatment to the pipes flowing from the water treatment plant. They looked at water as a business and not a human right. They failed at corrosion control, proper testing and monitoring procedures that should have been conducted routinely.

Now the current local, state and the federal government is trying to figure out how they can afford to pay for this travesty. They still required residents to pay a water bill of more than 100 in some households even though the water is still not safe to drink. You have had death occur in animals and people and can barely do downtown or certain parts of the city without certain remnants of remaining plants polluting the air. The connections between economic progress and development as it stands for the city of Flint is simple, replace the pipeline completely to rid its residents and animals of the toxicity flowing through its pipeline. On the other hand, by replacing those pipes at the expensive amount it will be, it will force the local and state government to ensure compliancy across the entire state.

In order to protect the environment from avoidable pollution practices, more stringent laws need to be imposed whether it is costly to residents or large corporations.