This research study examines the Flint water crisis to determine if Flint residents were the target of a degenerative policy. The study employs critical ethnography to explore the development and implementation of environmental water policy and investigate state-appointed legislator's decision to switch water sources in the city of Flint, Michigan, a predominantly low-income and minority community. In addition to using critical ethnography as a method, the study is interdisciplinary, integrating secondary data from news reports, governmental and nongovernmental documents, and budgets. The residents in Flint, Michigan water source was switched from Lake Huron (Detroit) a source used for more than 50 years to the Flint River. The water switch resulted in lead-contaminated water that poisoned more than 7,900 children and caused a widespread outbreak of Legionnaires' disease.