Rising Scholar: Flint Water Crisis: Impacts on Human-Environmental Interactions and Reflections for Future Solutions

Abstract

Flint is a city of Genesee county located in the central Michigan and 66 miles northwest of Detroit. The Flint water crisis erupted in April, 2014 and was one of the largest. (about 100,000 residents) intensively-reported water crises in our nation’s history. This paper proposes a unique way to analyze this water crisis from a perspective of human-environmental interactions within an ecosystem, discussing the impacts on infrastructures, environment, and human well-being. To avoid related future tragedies, three main solutions were identified: a) overcoming economic issues, b) strengthening the existing regulatory and legal procedures for holding officials accountable in dealing with the crises, and c) routine enforcement of environmental protection acts. These solutions will be essential to eliminate the fundamental causes of similar crises.