Flint Michigan Water Crisis: A Shattering of Public Trust
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This document summarizes the Flint water crisis which eroded public trust in authorities. The contaminated Flint River water caused lead poisoning and a Legionnaires' disease outbreak. Residents expressed a sense of betrayal as authorities denied problems for over a year. Interviews with residents show they no longer trust the water system and will likely never trust authorities again. Efforts to regain trust through public challenges to drink the water and minimizing complaints failed. The crisis was one of the worst environmental justice disasters according to experts and showed the importance of transparency, honesty and consistent performance in maintaining public trust.
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Flint Michigan Water Crisis: A Shattering of Public Trust
- 1. Flint Michigan Water Crisis A Shattering of Public Trust BJ Elkins ANTH 532
- 2. Disaster Overview Theory of Trust Sense of Betrayal from Disaster Regaining Trust
- 5. ”One of the Biggest Environmental Justice Disasters I know” -Sociologist Paul Mohai
- 6. Public Health Impact Pathogens Lead poisoning Carcinogens Legionnaires outbreak
- 8. Public Trust • Requirements: o Meet performance standards o Transparency / honesty o Consistency over time • Rational and emotional elements Source: Braithwaite and Levi. (1998). ”Trust and Governance.“
- 9. “Waterworld” Average American Family Water Usage = 300 gallons per day Source: Water Research Foundation, Residential End Uses of Water, V2. 2016.
- 10. Authorities’ Efforts to Maintain Public Trust • Mayor Dayne Walling: “It’s a quality, safe product. I think people are wasting their precious money buying bottled water.” (June 12, 2014) • Mayor twice drank tap water on TV (April 2014 and July 2015). • Gov. Rick Snyder’s “30-Day Flint Challenge” • Residents’ complaints minimized for over a year
- 12. Voices of Flint • Helena Jones “We've worked hard all our life, and we've paid our dues and pay our taxes. And this is what we get” • Melissa Mays “they took away my right as a mother to protect my children . . . they chose to hide it from us and then we ended up poisoning our children.” • William Wiggins “I don't think I'll ever go back to drinking it again, because you just don't know” • Gabrielle Holms-Scott “I don't think I will every trust the water again”
- 13. New City Leaders Campaigned on Transparency and Fiscal Responsibility Dr. Karen Weaver (Mayor 2016-2019) Sheldon Neeley (Mayor 2019 - Present)
- 14. Source: Water Research Foundation, Residential End Uses of Water, V2. 2016.
- 15. Questions?
Editor's Notes
- Pic: https://mashable.com/2016/01/24/flint-water-crisis/
- Clark, Anna. The Poisoned City: Flint's Water and the American Urban Tragedy. Metropolitan Books, 2018.
- Pic: https://nextcity.org/features/view/flint-water-crisis-city-rivers-economy
- Washington Post (2016) “Flint's water crisis reveals government failures at every level” Pic: Dingle, Adrian. “The Flint Water Crisis: What's Really Going On?” American Chemical Society, Dec. 2016
- Legionnaire death count: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/flint-water-crisis-legionnaires-disease-deaths/ Pic:https://www.wnd.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/flint_water.jpg
- https://www.michigan.gov/flintwater https://www.slideshare.net/lbuckfire/the-flint-michigan-water-crisis-causes-effects
- Chain pic: https://www.kisscc0.com/photo/desktop-wallpaper-black-and-white-chain-blog-desig-2dp0ds/
- https://www.epa.gov/watersense/how-we-use-water (Singer and Evans 2013)
- Clark, Anna. The Poisoned City: Flint's Water and the American Urban Tragedy. Metropolitan Books, 2018. https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2016/04/25/remember-that-time-gov-snyder-said-hed-drink-flints-water-for-30-days-thats-over-already
- https://www.mlive.com/news/page/still_standing_flint_residents.html “My job is to show the world the faces of the people of Flint, to help humanize this disaster. Earlier this year, I visited several sites across Flint to take portraits of 100 people dealing with the crisis. 100 portraits. 1/1000th of the community. These are the stories of my neighbors. We are human beings who want a basic human right, who want clean water running through our taps.” - Jake May, MLive/The Flint Journal photographer
- “That's criminal. I'm sorry. There's no other word for it, the fact that they took away my right as a mother to protect my children because they chose to cover up and lie instead of fixing the problem or at least addressing it, They chose to hide it from us and then we ended up poisoning our children. And there's nothing they can say or do that will take that away and fix it.” Melissa Mays Pic: http://www.socialworkblog.org/advocacy/2016/02/flint-water-crisis-update-resources-for-social-workers/ First two quotes:: Berlinger and Netto. (2016). “Voices of Flint: How Residents Are Coping” Last two quotes: May. “Voices of Flint.” mlive.
- https://www.cityofflint.com/office-of-the-mayor/mayors-bio/ Pic 1: https://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/2016/09/flint_mayor_karen_weaver_featu.html Pic 2: https://theflintcouriernews.com/voters-elect-state-rep-sheldon-neeley-as-next-mayor-of-flint/
- From a survey conducted by the MDHHS last year 49.1% children and 36.6% adults of Flint residents were found to use tap water. Nearly 2/3 of the people who use the water use it where ingestion is likely (drinking/cooking/brushing teeth, etc). Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trust-eroded-years-flint-drink-water/story?id=62582926 https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdhhs/MSU_Interim_Evaluation_681269_7.pdf Pic: https://thriveglobal.com/stories/glass-half-empty-debunking-the-myths-of-optimism-and-how-we-can-use-it-to-perform-our-best/
- http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2016/gallery/flint-water/protests-660.jpg