Flint water debacle began with pride, not politics

In this March 2014 photo by MLive, Flint officials gather to celebrate

upgrades to the city water plant in advance of the transition

to drinking water supplied by the Flint River.

Not to downplay the culpability of Gov. Rick Snyder or his administration for the Flint water crisis, but the innocuous beginnings of the drinking water project that went horribly wrong encompassed a simple transition, a temporary move, that had nothing to do with partisan politics or heartless ideology.

In fact, prior reporting shows that the switch to Flint River water was marked by consensus and community pride.

That was the point made Sunday night when Lt. Gov. Brian Calley posted online an MLive (Flint Journal) story published just before the transition was completed.

Here is Calley’s Facebook post:

This article is from March 2014 and provides some context from the beginning. Obviously, huge mistakes were made later. Many have asked why the switch was made originally.

This quote from the article sums up why an interim source happened in the first place:

"The city has bought its water from Detroit, but that contract was terminated when Flint signed on to purchase 18 million gallons of raw water per day from the Karegnondi Water Authority.

The under-construction pipeline will bring raw Lake Huron water to Flint and Genesee County when it is complete by the end of 2016.

People in the city will drink Flint River water until the pipeline is complete. Detroit Water and Sewerage Department Director said it would stop selling water to Flint and Genesee County on April 17, 2014.”

No rancor. No warnings of a public health disaster. And no political divisions over the decision. What’s more, at a March 12, 2014, ceremony, the Flint public works director and a top union official praised the move because of the autonomy it would demonstrate and the jobs that would be created.

"This is an important day for us as we break ground on this new project in the city of Flint," Mayor Dayne Walling said at the time. "The river is an invaluable asset."

It should also be mentioned that the relatively high cost of Detroit drinking water has served as a contentious issue for many years throughout the northern suburbs and other far-flung areas such as Flint and Genesee County. Macomb and Oakland counties have discussed creating their own water authority, similar to Karegonian, for decades.

Cost-cutting moves by an emergency manager or pressure from the state to shape up fiscally were not the driving force that led to this turn in the road.

About a year of preparations preceded the idea of drawing water from the river on an interim basis.

“The Flint River hadn't been an option, city officials previously said, because upgrades to Flint's water plant would be too expensive, the river didn't provide enough capacity to serve Flint residents' water needs and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality would not allow it,” MLive reported in January 2014.

But the city decided to pursue water storage procedures, water plant upgrades and other costs that reached the $4 million mark.

Clearly, a series of tragic errors were made in the 18 months after the water switch which allowed high levels of lead into the drinking water. That led to bureaucratic arrogance, foot-dragging, an apparent cover up and possibly some criminal negligence.

As seems to be the case in so many tragedies, the children, who are most impacted by lead poisoning, will pay the highest price.

One sentence from that March 2014 news story about proud officials commemorating their improved water plant now stands stark as a bitter irony:

“The hope is to also bring school children out to the plant to have educational tours.”