Flint water crisis

Since early 2014, the water supply for the city of Flint, Michigan has been reported as very unsafe, containing highly elevated levels of lead and other contaminates. The crisis started when a state-appointed emergency financial manager chose to switch the water source to the Flint River without proper treatment firsthand.

This crisis has become so bad, that a state of emergency has been declared for the city of Flint, and even the National Guard has been brought in to deal with it, with bottled water being handed out to city residents.
Elevated lead levels have been detected in the blood of those who drank the city's contaminated tap water, and now, there has even been a sharp increase in cases of Legionnaires disease in Genesee County.

Governor Rick Snyder has been accused of being the culprit behind the crisis (due to him appointing the emergency managers that made the decision to switch water sources), with some officials, including two from the state Department of Environmental Quality, resigning, and even celebrities calling for Governor Snyder's resignation and Michael Moore calling for his arrest.
Additionally, the governor and other high-profile state officials have been accused of covering up the situation.

News articles:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/door-door-effort-underway-flint-water-crisis-36243097
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/05/health/flint-michigan-water-investigation/

Timeline of crisis, with details about how it emerged:
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2015/10/how_the_flint_water_crisis_eme.html

You would think that out of all the things you wouldn't want to do without making a proper assessment first, it'd be choosing where your city gets its water from.

That's what you get with corrosive water; it screws up the pipes somewhat and the solder that contains lead leaks the lead out. Most of the copper-pipe connections used the solder in homes pre-1986.

tl;dr guy is an idiot for not checking the corrosiveness of the water from the Flint River, leading to the possibility of lead poisoning, and also forgot to check for certain microbiological agents. The guy is an idiot.

Didn't they do this as a cost cutting measure? Yeah, way to go jackasses, you ended up wasting more money on the cleanup and fallout for this, not to mention the effects it has on the community of Flint than if you'd have just stuck with Detroit's water. This guy is just as bad as our governor when it comes to human decency, though both over decidedly different problems. While Abbott is "only" satisfied with deciding to take state funding hostage over Syrian refugees among with a ton of other things too long to list, Snyder botched the execution of this whole cost cutting debacle so badly that he not only jeopardized an entire generation of kids with lead poisoning and only acted when his ass was on the line but even failed to cut costs with extra costs associated with the fallout with this. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he could be impeached over this.