Everyday we are extremely lucky. We are able to drink tap water, brush our teeth with it, and take showers in it. Many other countries do not have the access that we do; or at least we usually do. Beginning in April 2014, Flint, Michigan began drawing its water from the nearby Flint River rather than relying on the water from Detroit. The move was considered temporary at the time, yet it took until October of 2015 for officials to make the decision to revert back to the Detroit water system. Residents complained about the taste and smell of their water to no avail. As it turns out, their water was being slowly poisoned with lead.
For much of 2015, officials from Flint claimed that their water supply was safe to use. Despite the urges of Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha of Hurley Medical Center, the water continued to be poisoned with lead while officials deemed it safe to ingest. As of January 2016, Flint's Governor Rick Snyder told the citizens of Flint that "I’m sorry most of all that I let you down...You deserve better. You deserve accountability." He has released emails about the incident from government officials to allow citizens to see the process the government has gone through to fix the situation. Unfortunately, they are already too late.
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha has said that all children under the age of six in Flint should be treated with preventative actions. Eden Wells, Michigan's chief medical executive, agrees, stating that "It is important when we think about a public health perspective that we consider the whole cohort ... exposed to the drinking water, especially six years and under since April 2014, as exposed, regardless of what their blood level is on Jan. 11." No level of lead in the body is safe, but it is especially detrimental to developing brains and nervous systems in children. The state tested residents of Flint for lead in their bloodstreams but found that only 43 people showed elevated blood levels. This does not account for past lead levels however because levels decrease after 30 days in a person's body. There is no knowing the effect this has had since 2014.
There are many suggestions as to why the crisis was allowed to go on for so long, but no matter the reason for it, it is deplorable. As human beings, we deserve to have water that is safe for us. The government dropped the ball, and because of it thousands of Flint citizens have been denied clean water. For now, we will have to wait and see what the impact of this water crisis will be.
