Story Outline Exposition: when we learn important background information about the protagonist (the main character) and their “normal” life. (You’re “exposing” the reader to the back story.) Characters: the characters involved in the story include the media, the public (the people living in the Flint in Genesee, Michigan), and authorities (the United States Environmental Protection Agency). Setting: the flint water crisis hit the city of Flint in Genesee, Michigan and started in April 2014. This is after the authorities decided to change the supply of drinking water from Detroit system to Flint system in an effort to save on costs. Basic Situation: the water crisis at flint resulted from poor assessment and decision making by the local water authorities. The water was inadequately treated and tested, leading to numerous health issues because of its poor quality and contamination. Conflict: the conflict started when the authorities shifted the source of water supply to the city, thus exposing thousands of residents to lead poisoning from the discolored, foul-smelling, and off-tasting water that caused hair loss, skin rashes, and itchy skin to its users for several months. Despite numerous reports and coverage by news agencies such as the Detroit Free Press, MLive, and independent reporters, authorities largely ignored the public outcry. Rising Action: sequence of events that happen because of the conflict. They usually get more intense over time. • People started complaining that the water smells like rotten eggs, is brown, and tastes funny. • people started noticing the effects of consuming the poisoned water. Some of the effects included hair loss, skin rashes, and itchy skin to its users for several months. • the editorial board of the Detroit Free Press ran a report on October 8, 2015 showing how the government had failed to curb the water crisis • Several other media houses run stories showing the failure by government to address the issue • the authorities deny claims that the water is contaminated and assures the public that it is safe for consumption. Climax: a pediatrician releases a frightening report regarding the impact of the contaminated water on children. This is after carrying out some blood tests on the community’s children. Falling Action: the events after the climax (usually quicker than the rising action). • The governor of Michigan calls for a crisis meeting. • Authorities start brainstorming for ideas on what should be done to solve the problem and save the situation. • The government, with the help of other organizations, starts distributing bottled water that is safe for drinking and supplies lead filters across the country. Resolution: the governor of Michigan requests legislators to allocate the state funds which will be used to change the city’s water supply back to Lake Huron just like it was the case before the crisis set in. Title: Flint Water Crisis and Water Safety Regulation Characters Char.

1. Story Outline
Exposition: when we learn important background information
about the protagonist (the main character) and their “normal”
life. (You’re “exposing” the reader to the back story.)
Characters: the characters involved in the story include the
media, the public (the people living in the Flint in Genesee,
Michigan), and authorities (the United States Environmental
Protection Agency).
Setting: the flint water crisis hit the city of Flint in Genesee,
Michigan and started in April 2014. This is after the authorities
decided to change the supply of drinking water from Detroit
system to Flint system in an effort to save on costs.
Basic Situation: the water crisis at flint resulted from poor
assessment and decision making by the local water authorities.
The water was inadequately treated and tested, leading to
numerous health issues because of its poor quality and
contamination.
Conflict: the conflict started when the authorities shifted the
source of water supply to the city, thus exposing thousands of
residents to lead poisoning from the discolored, foul-smelling,
and off-tasting water that caused hair loss, skin rashes, and
itchy skin to its users for several months. Despite numerous
reports and coverage by news agencies such as the Detroit Free
Press, MLive, and independent reporters, authorities largely
ignored the public outcry.
Rising Action: sequence of events that happen because of the
conflict. They usually get more intense over time.
• People started complaining that the water smells like rotten
eggs, is brown, and tastes funny.
• people started noticing the effects of consuming the poisoned
water. Some of the effects included hair loss, skin rashes, and
itchy skin to its users for several months.

2. • the editorial board of the Detroit Free Press ran a report on
October 8, 2015 showing how the government had failed to curb
the water crisis
• Several other media houses run stories showing the failure by
government to address the issue
• the authorities deny claims that the water is contaminated and
assures the public that it is safe for consumption.
Climax: a pediatrician releases a frightening report regarding
the impact of the contaminated water on children. This is after
carrying out some blood tests on the community’s children.
Falling Action: the events after the climax (usually quicker than
the rising action).
• The governor of Michigan calls for a crisis meeting.
• Authorities start brainstorming for ideas on what should be
done to solve the problem and save the situation.
• The government, with the help of other organizations, starts
distributing bottled water that is safe for drinking and supplies
lead filters across the country.
Resolution: the governor of Michigan requests legislators to
allocate the state funds which will be used to change the city’s
water supply back to Lake Huron just like it was the case before
the crisis set in.
Title: Flint Water Crisis and Water Safety Regulation
Characters
Characters involved in the Flint Water Crisis were Scientists,
people of Michigan City, and the United States Environmental
Protection Agency.
Setting
Water Flint Crisis started in the year 2014 affecting Flint City
in Michigan, the United States leading to change of their water
source from Lake Huron and the Detroit River to the Flint
River.
Basic Situation

3. The basic situation in the Flint Water Crisis is about
environmental Injustice and poor decision making. For more
than a century, the Flint River has served as an illegal waste
disposal site for treated and untreated local industries refuse
along its shores.
Conflicts
The change of the water source was necessitated by the need to
save on costs. However, there was a failure to treat the water
sufficiently and lead leached from the water pipes into the
drinking water. The result was that more than 100, 000 people
were exposed to elevated lead levels.
Rising Action
Residents in the city started complaining that drinking water
supplied from Flint River had a foul taste, smell and
appearance.
The residents protested after founding out about the unsafe
water, the United States Environmental Protection Agency
denied their assertions claiming that the water was safe.
Rising Action
Again, conclusions made by the team of scientists at Virginia
Tech showed that water samples collected from 252 homes
through a resident-planned attempt signified citywide lead
levels had doubled.
Rising Action
Moreover, there were more disturbing findings reported in 2015
by Flint pediatrician showing incident of increased blood-lead
levels in children in the city as compared to the numbers in
2014.
Rising Action
Further, Flint water was contaminated with more than lead. The
switch from Detroit to Flint river coincided with an outbreak of
Legionnaires' disease which killed at least 12 and 87 more
people were taken ill.
Rising Action
Equally, in 2014, scientists discovered fecal bacteria in the City

4. water which was revealed to be as a result of the failure of the
responsible agency to maintain sufficient chlorine in its water.
Climax
The failure of the state, federal and city agencies to take care of
its people led to a joint which petitioned the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency to initiate an immediate
emergency federal response to the matter.
Falling Action
In 2016, the local residents together with some concerned
agencies sued the city and the state officials and demanding for
proper water testing and treatment for lead and all the city lead
pipes to be replaced.
Falling Action
In addition, the coalition went further to address an urgent need
of ensuring all the Flint city residents could access city's free
water distribution centers that were safe and bottled or having
strong strain installation and maintenance plan.
Falling Action
There are maximum contamination levels which have been
determined and set by the United States Environmental
Protection Agency for the water that people use for drinking,
cooking, and washing
Resolution
The court ordered for the implementation of door-to-door
delivery of bottled water to all home inclusive of correctly
installed and enhanced tap filter.
Conclusion
Overall, the FAST Start plan initiated by the city in 2016 was
put in place aiming to replace the thousands of lead and
galvanized steel service lines connecting Flint water mains to
city homes.

5. Running head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
1
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2
Annotated Bibliography
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Annotated Bibliography
1. Masten, S. J., Davies, S. H., & Mcelmurry, S. P. (2016). Flint
water crisis: what happened and why?. Journal‐American Water
Works Association, 108(12), 22-34.
This paper explains the situation that occurred in Flint starting
from 2014 where there were elevated levels of lead in the
drinking water for the residents. It also explains that the
government officials took a long period before they made the
decision to react to the issue. The paper provides an explanation
of the effect that this had on the level of trusts that the
community had with the state, the impact on the wellbeing of
the people, and the effect on the economy of the region. Finally,

6. this resource provides and explanation of the engineering and
chemistry behind the occurrences in Flint and the extent to
which the water system has recovered.
2. Butler, L. J., Scammell, M. K., & Benson, E. B. (2016). The
Flint, Michigan, water crisis: a case study in regulatory failure
and environmental injustice. Environmental Justice, 9(4), 93-97.
The article outlines the regulatory failures that are related to the
regulation of federal drinking water and the failures in the
enforcement and implementation of these regulations. It uses
the Michigan situation to detail the failure of numerous
regulators to respond or their provision of an inadequate
response. It also provides a demonstration of how the Safe
Drinking Water Act may be wrongly implemented, interpreted
and weakly enforces. The authors provide an explanation that
people may still receive contaminated water despite the fact that
there are laws to protect them from unsafe drinking water.
3. Katner, A., Pieper, K. J., Lambrinidou, Y., Brown, K., Hu, C.
Y., Mielke, H. W., & Edwards, M. A. (2016). Weaknesses in
federal drinking water regulations and public health policies
that impede lead poisoning prevention and environmental
justice. Environmental Justice, 9(4), 109-117.
The article explains the failures of the regulatory community in
the protection of the people of Flint after the water
contamination which affected numerous people amounting to
nearly 100,000. It provides an illustration of the available
weaknesses in the implementation and oversight of the Lead and
Copper Rule which was instituted by the US Environmental
Protection Agency. The authors provide weaknesses and gaps in
the implementation of the rule as well as in the process of
oversight and enforcement. This is done by comparing the
original intent of the rule and the current situation on the
ground and also the lack of public education and a monitoring
system for amount of lead in water.