How much water have you consumed today? Where did you get your last cup of water? For those of you who didn’t know the answer to these simple questions, you have a privilege that you are unaware of. Right now the people of Flint Michigan are still under a state of emergency because of the lead-contaminated water in their pipe system.

The Flint Water Crisis began in 2014 when the city of Flint Michigan decided to change the drinking water source to the Flint River. “Due to insufficient water treatment, over 100,000 residents were potentially exposed to high levels of lead in the drinking water”. Of the 100,000 affected, 9,000 were children. “Children exposed to lead poisoning can experience permanent damage, according to the World Health Organization. Lead can seriously affect children’s cognitive and physical development, leading to issues from lower IQs and aggression problems, to anemia and kidney dysfunction.”

The federal state of emergency was declared in January of 2016, after a pair of scientist studied the water and proved that there was, in fact, lead contamination in the water supply.

“Officials failed to apply corrosion inhibitors to the water. As a result, there was a series of problems that culminated with lead contamination, creating a serious public health danger. The Flint River water that was treated improperly caused lead from aging pipes to leach into the water supply, leading to extremely elevated levels of the heavy metal neurotoxin.”

Along with this information, Flint water officials tried to hide this information about the water contamination in 2015. After an outcry from citizens complaining about the waters taste, color and smell the city claimed to have tested the tap water of homes with lead service lines, and therefore the highest lead-poising risk; when in fact the city did not know the location of these lines. The information about the falsifying of these records was later discovered through the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.

Since the state of emergency was declared, residents have been ordered to use only bottled water when; cooking, cleaning, drinking and bathing. As of early 2017, the water quality has returned to acceptable levels, but the water will not be lead-free until all of the lead pipes are replaced, which won’t be completed no sooner than 2020.

So why does this matter today? Or, how does this affect you? On April 6^th of this year, the state of Michigan declared that they would no longer provide free bottled water to those affected by the crisis. Also, water distribution centers will be shutting down in the next few days. The governor believes that this crisis is averted.

This problem is still not completely solved and the families of Flint are having a huge source of water taken from them. If you don’t believe this is an issue, I ask you to put yourself in the residents of Flint Michigan’s shoes. As humans, we need water to survive. I can’t even imagine what the people in Flint have been going through for the last four years. All I can do is try my best to help and spread the word.

Want to help? Donate at Flint Water Fund.