9 - The Flint Water Crisis

Summary

This chapter focuses on the Flint Water Crisis, how government failed to provide the people of Flint with wholesome water and how activists, specifically including academics, brought enough attention to the dangers of the crisis to move the state government to reverse its actions. The chapter provides a discussion of the politics and practicalities of the governmental decisions, a brief review of how the water came to be contaminated with lead and foster an outbreak of pneumonia due to Legionella, and a review of the activists and academics who pushed the State of Michigan to reverse its decisions about the source and treatment of Flint’s municipal drinking water. The chapter details how academic scholars came to participate in the crisis on behalf of Flint citizens, and how these scholars changed the course of the crisis. The story of the Flint Water Crisis shows that fundamental democratic principles like enfranchisement, academic freedom, a vibrant free press, and government workers’ fiduciary responsibilities can have direct consequences for people’s health.