If there were no regulations, the water in those cities would be the same to this day and wouldn't have made the headlines. A law is only as good as it is enforced. The Flint water crisis should be big enough of a wake up call to put the focus on the EPA and Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and hopefully avoid similar issues in the future.

The situation is miles better than it was in the 1950s thanks to those regulations.