What Profits a State Could Harm Lives: How Neoliberal State Action Perpetuated the Flint Water Crisis

This paper examines the State of Michigan’s role in exacerbating Flint’s water crisis, revealing how state-induced delays and bureaucratic challenges hindered recovery efforts. Instead of aiding Flint, the state’s actions forced community groups into a continuous struggle to hold leaders accountable. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the research combines qualitative data from city council meetings, media reports, and public records with quantitative analysis of service line replacements. This approach uncovers deep-seated systemic dissonance within governmental actions, characterized by conflicting priorities and operational inefficiencies. These issues not only delayed critical infrastructure repairs but also perpetuated a public health disaster, keeping Flint's most vulnerable residents at risk of toxic water exposure. The findings highlight how breakdowns in governance disproportionately affected marginalized communities, reflecting broader political and socioeconomic influences on resource distribution. The research concludes by emphasizing the need for disaster mitigation strategies that align policy decisions with the realities of affected communities, offering insights into how future crises might be managed more effectively.