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from the water-everywhere-but-not-a-drop-to-drink dept.
From MLive, Months after dire warnings, Flint spills 2 million gallons of raw sewage into river:
The city dumped an estimated 2 million gallons of untreated sewage into the Flint River Sunday, Aug. 18, just months after officials warned wastewater infrastructure was fast approaching a "critical point."
A partial report filed by the city with the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy on Tuesday, Aug. 20, says a "flash flood event" overflowed primary settling tanks at the city's wastewater treatment plant on Beecher Road, sending raw waste onto the ground and into a storm sewer drain that discharges directly to the river....
Earlier this year, the city sought a waiver from the Genesee County Health Department, requesting that it be allowed to skip testing river water for bacteria after sewage spills in cases in which the discharge comes from its retention basin.
From the WSWS (ICFI/SEP), Michigan: Two million gallons of untreated sewage spill into Flint River:
Genesee County issued a public advisory that people should avoid all contact with the Flint River. As of this writing six days later, there are no reports in the press or on government websites that the advisory has been lifted....
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that in the United States 7 million people on average per year, i.e., a population that would rank as the second largest city in the US, become ill from exposure to raw sewage, and 7 percent of these severely or fatally ill. While some of the illnesses are due to ingestion through drinking water, a majority are the result of external contact, often resulting from municipal spills.
Late Saturday night, over 2.2 inches of rain fell in the Flint area in just a three-hour period....
The Flint River has long been known to be highly polluted due to the unrestrained dumping of toxic waste into it by General Motors for the better part of a century.
On MLive (comments adwalled), user Chukobuk suggested:
Just raise industrial user sewer rates by a factor of ten. What else is GM going to use its vast federal income tax break for from the Tax and Jobs Cut Act? Laying off another 12,000 employees? Oh, sorry, that's the Tax Cut and Jobs Act.
A different failure mode from 2014: Power failure leads to raw sewage in Flint River
See also: 'Damage has been done': Newark water crisis echoes Flint
Previously:
Poisoned Democracy: How an Unelected Official Contaminated Flint's Water to Save Money
Here's How Hard It Will be to Unpoison Flint's Water
3 Officials Charged in Flint Water Crisis; More Arrests Seen
Prosecutor Charges Six Employees in Flint, Michigan Water Investigation
How ZIP Codes Nearly Masked the Lead Problem in Flint
Shigella Outbreak in Flint, Michigan Complicated by Untrusted Water
Lead in US School Water "Disturbing"—Detroit Just Shut Off All Fountains
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 26 2019, @07:37PM (4 children)
This was not an Act of God. It was an act of willful ignorance by elected and appointed officials and their employees. Exactly what is your reasoning that the rest of us should pay for the fuckups of their administration? I'd say loan them the money but make them pay it back. I didn't get to vote for the Detroit or Flint officials, why should I get stuck holding the bag?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 26 2019, @08:41PM
Brown bagging it?
(Score: 2) by Coward, Anonymous on Tuesday August 27 2019, @12:42AM (1 child)
Most disasters can be foreseen at some level. Hurricanes in Puerto Rico and Florida lead to federal disaster aid. So do earthquakes and wildfires in California. They all should have bought insurance and built more robust infrastructure. Economic disasters are not so different.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 27 2019, @02:24PM
Not even remotely the same thing. This was 100% caused by the decisions and choices of the people involved. Natural disaster events are by definition natural disasters. While their impact could and should be mitigated by planning and insuring losses, they cannot be foreseen except at some statistical level. This is no different than your homeowners policy that insures against fires and wind damage.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 27 2019, @02:13PM
You missed the "/s" at the end of the comment, didn't you?