Social Responsibility Of Drinking Water In Flint, Michigan

Introduction
Imagine living in a city where you have to make sure your water is clean before drinking it. In most parts of the United States, we can go to the sink, fill up our cup and not have to worry about a thing. We have state of the art sanitation systems and complete and utter trust in our city and state water quality systems. So why worry? In Flint, Michigan, the water is so contaminated with lead that it is undrinkable, but the city has yet to completely fix the problem. The citizens of Flint Michigan are seeing symptoms of irritability, anxiety, hospitalization for lead poisoning and even death. Two-year-old Sophia Waid was just diagnosed with toxic lead poisoning, due to the extreme levels of lead in their drinking water. Her parents …show more content…
How did this slip through the cracks? There are different views of social responsibility; some companies that base their entire product off of doing good for a community like TOMS Shoes. They are an international brand that donates a pair of their shoes for someone in need, for every shoe that is bought. This helps their business and helps the community. Then there are companies that try to give back by donating to charity, which is helpful, but not quite as philanthropic than a company like TOMS Shoes. Lastly, there are the companies that do not do anything at all for the greater good. They just run their business and take home their profits. This is where the city of Flint, Michigan fits in, but they are a city that people live in, not just a business. The city officials should be looking at the situation as a way to make their people happy, not for financial reasons. They could see it as people need good clean water, and the state is dependent on the people, therefore we should supply them with clean. healthy water. Or even more water regulation would make the city officials look more promising for the next election. Either way, the city should be looking at their citizens as people, not a business they merely need to maintain with the lowest …show more content…
Not one person, or one group of people, can take the full blame, but the group needs to pay the price. People are dying. Little children like Sophia, have a large possibility for permanent brain damage just from drinking water from her home. None of this would have happened if the city and state officials had taken the extra time and money to implement the anti corrosive agent in the water. This would not help improve the financial state of the city, but it would have saved various citizens from toxic lead poisoning. It is clear in this decision that the revenue and expenses of the city are more important that its citizen’s health. There was little to no social responsibility enacted in this entire process. It almost seems like the governor and the other state officials were running the city like a sweatshop. Flint’s city and state government are the owners, and the citizens are the workers because majority has to stay in the city due to financial restraints. This needs to change. The city and state government need to enact more social responsibility for its people. This is human lives at stake, not