THE FLINT WATER CRISIS
Episode 218 | Historical Events
In this History episode we focus on the Flint water crisis — the 2014 decision by a state-appointed emergency manager to switch Flint's water source to the Flint River to save money, without the corrosion control treatment required by federal law. The acidic river water leached lead from aging pipes directly into the homes of 100,000 residents. Between 6,000 and 12,000 children were exposed to elevated lead levels. Twelve people died in a Legionnaires' disease outbreak caused by the contaminated water. State officials suppressed a report showing the correlation with children's elevated blood lead levels. An EPA memo warning of a public health emergency was shelved by supervisors.
We trace LeeAnne Walters's fight to expose the contamination, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha's published data that state officials disputed before being forced to confirm, and Marc Edwards's Virginia Tech team that made the contamination undeniable. General Motors reconnected to clean water in October 2014 without telling residents. The state emergency order was lifted in May 2025. The children who drank the water cannot be given back the neurological development that lead poisoning cost them.
This podcast features narration with a synthetic AI voice.
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