Finley: Trace Flint blame from water plant

Finley: Trace Flint blame from water plant:
The obsession with how the decision was made to switch Flint to its own water system, and who made it, is misplaced.
While it turned into a disaster, it would have been inconsequential had it not been for some bad and baffling choices made before the water started flowing to Flint residents.
On its own, changing from the Detroit Water and Sewerage System to a new regional authority should not have been so tragic for Flint.
Even drawing water from the Flint River should not have become such a big deal — the Flint River has been used before as a supplemental source.
Those actions on their own could be considered sound policy — they did save the busted city money — had it not been for the monumental screw-up at the Flint water treatment facility.
That mistake, as has been well reported, was to not add anti-corrosive chemicals to the water before it entered Flint’s ancient system of pipes.
I spent some time this week with several people in the water treatment field, and not one could figure out how such a basic additive was left out. 
It’s standard practice to put anti-corrosives in water, particularly in older systems.
And had it been done in Flint, as Marc Edwards, the Virginia Tech professor who uncovered the high levels of lead in Flint water, told The Detroit News, “nearly all of the problems ... would not have occurred.”...