Maintaining (let alone replacing) buried infrastructure is expensive and few people are in favour of paying higher taxes. Politicians get elected by claiming that government services are full of waste, then demand a ten percent reduction in the workforce. Goodbye water quality test protocols! Things have been proven good so far, so obviously it’s not needed! Oh, hey, this other water source is cheaper, let’s use it. Phosphate balance? Can’t test that, the water quality tester was fired.

And that is how you get lead poisoning in Flint.