He’s got passion and persistence. He’s a bulldog. He’s taken this problem on and he’s going to help fix it. There’s an arrogance in the best sense of the word. There’s no question he will help force us to deal with it.”
I love the idea of forcing people to deal with detriment issues in order to create positive change. It sounds a little aggressive, but I think that aggression is sometimes needed in dire situations.
“When we saw that my heart skipped a couple of beats,” he said. “The last thing I needed in my life was another confrontation with government agencies. But it was us or nobody.”
This is so inspiring. That one person can stand up to huge government agencies to create positive change.
He burned through thousands of dollars of his own money, as well as $500,000 from a MacArthur Foundation genius grant he won in 2008, to take on the federal government. He was harassed, lampooned, and threatened. He lost friends.
He has made such a sacrifice for such a heroic cause. I'm so happy this article is giving him the recognition he deserves.
Yet industry guidance has takenthe position that managing lead-related risks associated with LSLs and plumbing fixtures on private property is largely the utility customers’ responsibility.Many water utilities have not informed customers proactively (if at all) about the presence of LSLs. As a result, customers generally have limited awareness of the potential need to take action to protect themselves from lead in drinking water.
It's so upsetting to see that companies would rather let people get lead poisoning than effectively inform them of the dangers of lead poisoning. Who is really responsible for clean water? The government or individuals?
Inadequate and improper sampling of distribution system water quality,potentially in violation of the Safe Drinking Water A
Shouldn't there be someone who noticed that this act was violated? How did the Flint Crisis get so far to where it is today?
alism. Withouttheircourage and persistence, this crisis likely never wouldhave been brought to lightand mitigation efforts never begun
I think this part is so interesting. The Flint Water Crisis was preventable disaster, yet there was some good found in midst of all the bad.
state officials insisted that nothing was seriously wrong
Why would state officials want to damage their citizens and not properly approach the issue? What it a matter of public face or did they really believe that nothing was wrong? How can we prevent this from happening in the future?
Lead does irreversible damage to children's developing brains
This makes me wonder that if lead poisoning is such a serious issue, why didn't anyone foresee this happening? Additionally, why do we still use lead pipes if they've been proven to cause "irreversible damage to children's developing brains." Is there a better alternative?
And to many people, what's unfolding in Flint is a powerful illustration of how politicians ignore the problems and concerns of poor African Americans — even when the politicians caused the problems in the first place.
I never knew that the Flint Crisis was a racial and economic crisis too. It's so sad that politicians have the power to create positive change, but without a media outburst or some other imposing force, they don't.