Michigan has once again been fooled by their governor, Rick Snyder. First he destroyed our public schools and our teacher's pay. Now he has made us think that he has been doing his best to help Flint and their water situation. The Flint water crisis happened when Flint changed its water source from the Detroit Water and Sewage Department to the Flint River. Soon their pipes started to corrode and lead leaked into the water. This happened in April of 2014 and is still going on. Rick Snyder should have handled this in a different way. He should have started replacing the pipes as soon as he heard about it, put out a state of emergency report when it came to his attention, and he should have told parents about the risks to their children.
    

First of all, Rick Snyder should have started the process of replacing the pipes as soon as he heard about it. The governor kept saying how he never heard about the crisis until October; but in July, the Chief of Staff sent an email to a health department official warning of lead in Flint drinking water (Shoichet, 2016). This shows that he knew about it about three months earlier than he said.  So why did he not do anything? The governor said he took dramatic action.  "I took action immediately then, offering filters, working with people on getting water, and on doing water testing." He also stated in an interview with CNN's Poppy Harlow that he didn't change the pipes right away because it was a long process (Shoichet, 2016). Well that's partly true. Rick Snyder said it would take 15 years and 60 million dollars to replace the pipes (Stockton, 2016). This was completely off. Harold Harrington, business manager of Flint's Plumbers Union, said, "Replacing a typical service line takes three people. As long as you don't run into any problems the job should take about a half of a day."  Harrington said if he called in 20 such teams to work full time until the job is done it would take just over two years to replace all of the pipes. This is if it's at a rate of 40 pipes a day ( Stockton, 2016). If Rick Snyder started changing the pipes right when he heard about it, the job could have almost been done by now. So did he really take dramatic actions?
    

Secondly he should have put out a state of emergency when he first heard about it. A state of emergency warns citizens about the disaster that has happened. He had known about the lead in the water in July and even if he had only known in October, he still waited a few months to put out a state of emergency (Shoichet, 2016). Why would he put out a state of emergency that late? His reasoning is he wasn't allowed to until local officials declared an emergency. But in an email sent November 13th, Chris Kelenske, Deputy Director of Emergency Management said,"The governor can declare [a state of emergency] at any time for any reason" (Egan, 2016). So he could have put out a state of emergency in November, but instead he waited and let more and more people become contaminated because they didn't have all of the information on the situation.
    

Lastly Snyder should have warned parents about the risks their children were at. If Rick Snyder really took dramatic action like he said, he should have warned parents a little sooner and better than he did. According to the New York Times, Snyder was informed in an email that a state nurse told one young mother to not worry about the damage being done to her child when her son's blood showed an elevated lead level (Boggioni,2016). This shows that he knew something was up with the water because lead doesn't just get into your blood without a source.  He didn't even try to figure out what happened; he just ignored the email. Also the state of Michigan and Flint used a poster, created by the State's Department of health and human services, informing parents it was safe to bathe their children in contaminated water ( Boggioni, 2016). The poster says " Lead water will not soak into your skin fast or at high levels."  Also it says," Just don't let your children drink the water... yuck!" (Thompson, 2016).  So they are saying you can bathe in the water for a quick period of time because it won't sink into your skin that fast, but if you stay in longer it will. Is that a risk anyone would take? Probably not. They took the poster down a week or so after. Dr. Mona Hanna- Attisha was asked if she would bathe her own child in the water. She said maybe her older children, but she would take lots of precautions if she bathed a younger child because their brains are still developing. ( Bouffard, 2016). A doctor is saying not to bathe babies in it but the poster said it's fine. Who's a parent to believe?
   

Some people may think that Rick Snyder really did do his best to solve the situation. But he didn't at all. All he did was ask houses if they wanted a filter. One mother told CNN that no one ever came to her house. Also he has just now started to replace the pipes. He says it takes too long and it's too expensive but a manager of Flint's plumbing union said it would take only two years. Rick Snyder isn't a plumber.  What does he know about how long it takes? Yes it will be a costly matter but it's worth it if Flint can drink their water again. If Rick Snyder really had tried his best to fix the situation it would have been fixed by now.
    

At the end of it all, Rick Snyder screwed up big time. He should have handled Flint's water differently. He should have started replacing the pipes right then, put out a state of emergency as soon as he heard about the lead, and he should have warned parents about what it could do to their children. Rick Snyder said the pipes would take too long to replace when it would only take two years, he said he didn't know about the lead until October (which doesn't matter because he waited three months to put out a state of emergency) and he put a poster saying parents can bathe their children in the water when a doctor said you shouldn't. The big question is when will Flint's water really be safe?