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I regard Flint water crisis as a cautionary tale against the mentality of "Move Fast Break Things". My understanding is that before the switch to a different w

I regard Flint water crisis as a cautionary tale against the mentality of "Move Fast Break Things". My understanding is that before the switch to a different water source, the city's lead pipes had a thick layer of minerals deposited over the years. The mineral lining shielded the citizens from the lead in the pipes. When the water source was switched to river water, the mineral lining was corroded and led to the crisis.

kurthr 3y ago
It seems much more intentional than that. https://www.bridgemi.com/truth-squad-companion/years-missed-warnings-flint-river-switch https://www.bridgemi.com/truth-squad-companion/years-missed-... "Two days before former state Treasurer Andy Dillon formally recommended moving Flint off Detroit water, a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality drinking water safety regulator warned that using the Flint River would pose increased public health risk"
- HPsquared 3y ago
  Sounds like mistrust of experts was a factor.
  - mistermann 3y ago
    Also the incompetence (on an absolute scale) of relative experts, if all the people involved are even that.
  - datavirtue 3y ago
    Herds don't have an ALU for which to process nuance. Buckle up.
- peteradio 3y ago
  That would be a redline for me, if a critical safety decision gets axed by a bean counter I bounce.
  - ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago
    That's basically the story of Boeing (Boing?).
    - peteradio 3y ago
      Did people routinely resign in protest at Boeing? I guess part of it would have to include shouting from the rooftops which I've only done to the extent of griping to family, (I'm not well off enough to kick my former employers in the nads). Truly astounding requests/denials trickle down from the bean counters, and against all reasoning gets pushed through often to the net negative of all. But we must push on lest we be seen to be the worst of all people backtrackers.
      - nobodyandproud 3y ago
        Boeing’s decline was Jack Welch-ism played out over 2 decades: Just fire people.
sharemywin 3y ago
I'm not sure that could have been voided. you would have had to wait years probably to for the corrosion to happen.
jandrese 3y ago
The worst part is how avoidable it was. The chemical additive to prevent the problem was so cheap it would barely appear on the budget, and yet it was removed "for cost reasons". It's not hard to think that the whole crisis was manufactured for some inscrutable reason.
- KevinMS 3y ago
  Everybody is making this into some evil plot when the only thing that went wrong was they forgot to add about $30 of antacid a day to the water at the treatment plant.
jMyles 3y ago
...another obvious lesson is that acidic water - even mildly acidic - has unintended consequences which vary dramatically depending on the infrastructure being used to deliver it. The need to protect sources of water with more alkalinity is a largely ignored lesson of this crisis. (but of course if you try to do any research on water ph you run headlong into the crackpot crowd trying to shill alkaline water machines)

kurthr 3y ago

It seems much more intentional than that. https://www.bridgemi.com/truth-squad-companion/years-missed-warnings-flint-river-switch https://www.bridgemi.com/truth-squad-companion/years-missed-... "Two days before former state Treasurer Andy Dillon formally recommended moving Flint off Detroit water, a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality drinking water safety regulator warned that using the Flint River would pose increased public health risk"

HPsquared 3y ago
Sounds like mistrust of experts was a factor.
- mistermann 3y ago
  Also the incompetence (on an absolute scale) of relative experts, if all the people involved are even that.
- datavirtue 3y ago
  Herds don't have an ALU for which to process nuance. Buckle up.
peteradio 3y ago
That would be a redline for me, if a critical safety decision gets axed by a bean counter I bounce.
- ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago
  That's basically the story of Boeing (Boing?).
  - peteradio 3y ago
    Did people routinely resign in protest at Boeing? I guess part of it would have to include shouting from the rooftops which I've only done to the extent of griping to family, (I'm not well off enough to kick my former employers in the nads). Truly astounding requests/denials trickle down from the bean counters, and against all reasoning gets pushed through often to the net negative of all. But we must push on lest we be seen to be the worst of all people backtrackers.
    - nobodyandproud 3y ago
      Boeing’s decline was Jack Welch-ism played out over 2 decades: Just fire people.

sharemywin 3y ago

I'm not sure that could have been voided. you would have had to wait years probably to for the corrosion to happen.

jandrese 3y ago

The worst part is how avoidable it was. The chemical additive to prevent the problem was so cheap it would barely appear on the budget, and yet it was removed "for cost reasons". It's not hard to think that the whole crisis was manufactured for some inscrutable reason.

KevinMS 3y ago
Everybody is making this into some evil plot when the only thing that went wrong was they forgot to add about $30 of antacid a day to the water at the treatment plant.

jMyles 3y ago

...another obvious lesson is that acidic water - even mildly acidic - has unintended consequences which vary dramatically depending on the infrastructure being used to deliver it. The need to protect sources of water with more alkalinity is a largely ignored lesson of this crisis. (but of course if you try to do any research on water ph you run headlong into the crackpot crowd trying to shill alkaline water machines)