The Corrosion Crisis in Flint, Michigan: A Call for Improvements in Technology Stewardship

Abstract

The water contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan, vividly demonstrates that the current approach to technology stewardship in the face of problems that may lead to calamity is not working. Lessons often are tragically not learned or used during decision making.

A more proactive approach to technology stewardship, risk assessment, and public policy practice is recommended, drawing on lessons from previous experiences and supporting timely, data-driven decisions and actions by well-informed authorities. Without such cultural and behavioral change, there is the risk of repeating technological mistakes and encountering disasters again and again with enormous costs in public health and public trust and at great taxpayer expense (Koch et al. 2016).

This article suggests tools for anticipating and managing potential problems before they produce a calamity.