In less than a month, it will have been four years since the residents of Flint, Michigan have had access to water. Flint has been without clean and safe water since April 24, 2014.
I live in Michigan when I’m not at school, about an hour and a half west of Flint and, for about a week, reports on the Flint water crisis was on the news. After that, there was basically radio silence on the topic.
April 25, 2014 was the day that Flint officials decided to switch the main water system of the city to the Flint River from the Detroit system to save $5 million. Soon after this switch, complaints from residents about the water began flooding in (pun intended). They claimed it was discolored, smelled weird, and there were cases of hair loss and rashes connected to the water.
More than a year passed before the city took any action on these complaints. The water from the river was found to be corroding the city’s pipes and was carrying lethal levels of lead.
Flint water is filled with lead and other toxins that have killed and sickened many people, especially children. The maximum permitted concentration of lead in water is 15 parts of lead per billion parts of water. Flint’s water has 400 parts per billion.
Because of this, more than 250 infants died in their mother’s wombs between April 2014 and October 2015, fertility rates dropped by 12 percent, many children were diagnosed with behavioral disorders, as well physical and cognitive disabilities, and some adults suffer from memory loss and high or low blood pressure.
Long-term effects of lead poisoning are also inevitable, but it has not been long enough for those symptoms to show or be observed.
So why was there more than a year from the water system switch until the city began acknowledging any problems? Flint is poor and Black. The median household income is less than $25,000 and more than 40 percent of the residents live below the poverty line. 60 percent of Flint’s population is African American.
The Michigan Civil Rights Commission reported that systematic racism is the culprit of the crisis. The report concludes that this would never have happened in a wealthy and white city in Michigan because those residents are listened to. However, no politician or official listens to poor Black people, and thus, the Flint water crisis exists.
After news spread about the horrific things happening in Flint, many celebrities donated money and brought awareness to the situation, and people fundraised for the people with unsafe water. However, that attention didn’t last long, and people no longer remember Flint, MI.
Mari Copeny, a 10 year old living in Flint, has been raising money and awareness for the children of flint for the last four years. I believe she is Flint’s biggest advocate, and she is a large part of why Flint hasn’t been completely left out of the conversation for the last three years.
However, all of these efforts also aren’t nearly enough. The money raised helped get residents clean water bottles, but not clean water pipes. The government has done very little to attempt to reverse the damage. A few thousand contaminated pipes have been replaced, but unsafe and unclean pipes still remain.
The city gave filters to those with unclean water, but those filters were only for kitchen sinks, not showers or bathroom sinks. Regardless of having a filter, why would you trust the same water that has directly caused health problems to your neighbors, family, or even to you?
It is important not to let the conversation about Flint die. The residents have been without clean water for almost 1,500 days and they deserve better.
Emma Farina
Opinions Columnist