By
now, the Flint water crisis seems like old news. It once was a topic that
scrolled at the bottom of the screen on CNN and news channels alike. But, it
has disappeared from the 24-hour news cycle and now our newly elected president
consumes most of the media’s attention. While the water crisis is no longer
being covered on our television screens, this crisis should not be erased from
our minds. While we go about our day drinking clean water and refreshing our
phones for the most eye-catching headlines, Flint, Michigan has been absent of
clean water for 3 years. If we are unaware of how this water crisis came exist,
I will offer a very brief overview.
Flint, Michigan is a city located about 60
miles outside of Detroit. Encompassing a population of about 100,000 people,
Flint was once a thriving car manufacturing city hosting one of the largest
General Motors plant. But after General Motors severely cut back it’s size and
employees, the city soon became an impoverished city entrenched with financial
deficits. These deficits resulted in the state of Michigan taking control over
the city. This meant taking over Flint’s water supply. The state of Michigan switched Flint’s water
supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River to cut back on cost. This transition drastically
impacted the water supply. According to a class –action lawsuit, the state
department of Environmental Quality was not properly treating the Flint River
Water. This mistreatment of the water caused lead from aging service lines to infiltrate
Flint’s water supply. As of 2014, it was announced that Flint’s water supply
for all of its citizens was contaminated and unhealthy to drink. High levels of
lead in the water made it unsafe to drink and developing children exposed to
this risk long-term health issues.
Why
am I concerned about the water crisis? For one, nothing is being done to clean
Flint’s water supply. Everyone with any real power to clean the water supply has
made the decision to stay idle. The second reason is Flint hits close to home
for me. While I am personally not from Flint, Michigan, my father was born and
raised there and my grandmother (father’s mother) currently resides there. I
had the opportunity to talk to my grandmother understand what it is like to
live with contaminated water. Living on the Flint water system, my grandmother
said that she has a filter on her sink that is suppose to filter out the
contaminants. She said, “I don’t use the tap filter for drinking, only for
cooking and washing dishes.” When it comes to drinking, she only drinks bottled
water. When it comes to showering, my grandmother said, “ I have no choice but
to shower in the dirty, lead-filled water.” While she has to avoid getting the
water in her eyes, she said that because she is old, the lead in the water
doesn’t affect her like it would on a child whose brain is still developing. My
father, who visits Flint frequently, believes that the water supply was long
contaminated before 2014 and that my grandmother was exposed to the dirty water
long before being notified of it.
Why
after three years does Flint, Michigan still not have a clean water supply? Is
it because of the high level of poverty in the city? Is it because of the
predominantly black demographic? Would a situation like this go on for three
years in Beverly Hills? In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly recognized
through Resolution 64 that clean water and sanitation are a human right. These
are American citizens living in one of the wealthiest nations in the world without
a clean water supply. This crisis will not go away by itself and should not
continue to be ignored.
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