Lessons From Flint, Michigan’s Water Crisis
Photo courtesy Curt Guyette
By Ambar Espinoza, Rhode Island Public Radio
As many as 100,000 people in Flint, Michigan were exposed to harmful concentrations of lead in the city’s drinking water. In an attempt to save money, the city decided to disconnect from Detroit’s water system and began to use water from the corrosive Flint River.
Curt Guyette, the investigative reporter who broke the story, visited Rhode Island as part of an annual lecture series organized by the Metcalf Institute at the University of Rhode Island. He sat down with Rhode Island Public Radio environmental reporter Ambar Espinoza to talk about how he uncovered this public health crisis as a reporter for the ACLU of Michigan.