Flint Water Crisis of 2014
On this day in 2014 Flint Michigan switched its water source to the Flint River. This resulted in lead poisoning in the numbers of 12,000 victims and 15 some odd cases of fatal Legionnaires disease.This ultimately lead to criminal indictments of 15 persons involved in the mess and 5 of them were charged with involuntary manslaughter.
This became a public health crisis beginning on that day in 2014 and lasting til 2019 with the drinking water of Flint, Michigan becoming contaminated with lead and possibly Legionella bacteria.
Of course these proceedings included a budget crisis ostensibly the impetus for changing the Flint water source from treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department which was derived from Lake Huron and the Detroit River to the less suitble Flint River.
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People were complaing about the taste, smell, and appearance of the water coming from the taps.
Officials failed to apply corrosion inhibitors to the water, which resulted in lead from aging pipes leaching into the water supply, exposing around 100,000 residents to elevated lead levels.
Lead contamination was confirmed by two separate testing firms.
In January of this year Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and eight other office holders were charged with 34 felony counts and seven misdemeanors with a total of 41 counts in all for their roles in the crisis.
Two of thes officials were charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Way too little way too late.