Part II - Blog Post Template
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Apr 3, 2024
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Uploaded by JudgeTrout4095
How Ethics Affected the People: Some of the decision makers involved in this issue are Governor Rick Snyder and 8 others that were criminally charged for accounts of involuntary manslaughter, misconduct and perjury. The state of Michigan made a decision to switch the water supply from Lake Huron to Flint River back in April of 2014. The water was not treated and tested for any particles the way it should’ve been; this resulted in a series of health issues with residents and and major water quality issues. The motivation for these actions was for the state to save money during a time of financial crisis. But these actions have caused irreversible damage to state residents (Barry-
Jester, 2016). After many complaints and evidence, residents found lead in their drinking water. Because of this, Flint residents have protested and fired several employees due to the lead poisoning. The Department of Environmental Quality failed to collect sufficient data and ignored
warning signs, allowing the poisoning to occur, causing international outrage and protests.
Ethics Related to Issue
Consequentialism is the ethical idea of judging the morality of an action based on its consequences (UvA, 2017). . For example, most say lying is the wrong thing to do but with this ethical idea, if lying would help save someone’s life in a circumstance then it would be the right thing to do. Utalitarianism stems as a form of consequentialism where the consequences of an action are the only standard for right or wrong (UvA, 2017). With the Flint Michigan water crisis, the water was not treated with an anti-corrosion chemical when switching water sources therefore, resulting in the public decline of the health for the state. The state also decided to build
a new pipeline that included budget cuts leading to the introduction of lead in the drinking water.
This lead to many women and children being affected by this the most.
Personal Ethics I do not agree with what decisions that were made because I feel like it's more important to do what’s best for the community as a whole and the decisions that were decided were not in best of the community. The government, agencies involved, and engineers all failed to safely establish ways to fix the issue. Engineers neglected water infrastructure and failed to consider the
risks when switching sources. The government not only did a terrible cover-up on the issue but also failed in providing the right resources. In a way, the government violated very personal human rights to residents by witholding information about the condition of Flint’s water. Sources:
Barry-Jester, A. (2016). What Went Wrong In Flint. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-
went-wrong-in-flint-water-crisis-michigan/
UvA . (2017). Consequentialism & Utilitarianism part 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=kGimV5D7Kzw
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