Comment by partiallypro | Hacker News Reader

Comment by partiallypro | Hacker News Reader

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I too was confused why they tried to tie the two events together. The lead pipes had formed a coating (and this is true in other locations too) that made them nontoxic but when they were flushed with acidic water (as the water treatment plant did) they shed that lining and it began washing through the lead and putting it into the lines. The lines had operated fine with water from a different location that had different pH levels, but pH variation is common without pollution, so blaming this on pollution is a bit nonsensical.

When it comes to the article, it makes sense that pollution would be in poorer areas. Pollution lowers property value, which allows poorer individuals to live there. Or the area could have already been poor and they are unable to afford to leave.

I'm not sure who is to blame for the Flint crisis tbh, there seems to be a lot of finger pointing and politicizing. I have yet to find a source that wasn't biased one way or the other, which is sad. People just want answers and for it to be fixed.

They tie the two events together because there is no better way to fund the replacing of Flint water infrastructure than to blame a third part (state, federal, etc) so they feel obligated to pay for the repair and maintenance work Flint should have been doing in the first place.

The lines had operated fine with water from a different location that had different pH levels

Actually one of the talking points is that no one will talk about lead levels before they switched the water from Detroit to Flint river. But its not as bad as it is now obviously. . . Does building this 'coat' back up work? How long does that take?

I'm no expert, but I assume it takes long enough to where they are just going to have to replace all the lead pipes and fittings.

That talking point you mention could be true, or it could be a way for the state level government to dish it back to the local government. Who knows. To me it seems like the municipality screwed this up more than the state, but like I said it's virtually impossible to find an unbiased news source with the whole story; they both no doubt have a role. Even this very story is politically driven, it could be misleading in its urgency to drive clicks/narrative. Happens all the time with various things in the news (like the claim of x drug use among teens, etc.)

Hopefully there is a non-partisan investigation from the Federal level on the Flint fiasco.

I agree. In one sense, there is no way this was an intended consequence. On the other hand, it would be tough to convince me to drink treated flint river water, and I thought that long before they switched the water. (I'm from the area). My gut feeling is the state, the local, and everyone in between is to blame. You are spot on with the politicizing too, its out of control.

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