Water. We all need it to survive, but what if we lived in a place where we didn't have access to fresh water?
Well, that is what's happening to the citizens of Flint, Michigan. Now, before you say, “We've already heard this. The problem is solved.” Let me inform you: it’s not.
Since the water crisis first gained national attention in 2015, the small town has gained support from celebrities and people all over the world, including President Obama.
The problem began for Flint after the town switched it’s water supply source from Detroit to Flint. Soon, the start of one of the worst crises to hit America began.
After the switch occurred in April of 2014, more and more adults were coming forward complaining about the way the water looked, smelled and tasted. They complained it looked dirty. The “dirt” was actually high amounts of lead.
Lead – for those who don't know – is highly dangerous and coming into contact with anything that has lead in it for a long period of time, causes irreparable damage.
Adults soon began to see the effects of lead poisoning, not only in themselves but in their children too. Children as young as six were dealing with high amounts of lead, many not knowing the damage it had already done to their brain.
The water crisis then took another turn in August of 2015. According to NPR, Flint residents were told to boil their water after test results came back positive for E. coli and chloroform.
You would think having high amounts of bacteria in the water would cause Flint to switch their water supply back to Detroit, but it didn’t.
After a brave woman spoke out, and the water got tested, residents were soon given a solution. The solution was to give Flint citizens water bottles to bathe, drink and cook with, however the damage had already been done.
So, why is Flint still a problem? After two years of struggling to help a city get a basic need, why are the citizens still in despair?
One notices the demographic that makes up Flint. Flint is a city of about 98,000, according to their 2015 census, and of those, 57 percent or 55,860 are black and poor.
We know that if the majority of citizens in Flint were white, they would have had proper water care. Case in point: General Motors. The Detroit based car company realized the harshness of Flint’s water after the source was switched, and told higher-ups about the effects the lead-filled water would have on their car parts. Realizing their concerns, Flint switched GM back to Detroit.
If a city is more concerned about their car parts than their citizens, then the leaders need to be held accountable for their dangerous actions, which is exactly what happened.
As of now, a total of nine officials have been charged in wrongfully poisoning the citizens of Flint.
According to NPR, the charges are being brought upon the nine that the local government “allegedly failed to release a report that showed unsafe lead levels in the blood of Flint children.” another charge is for “tampering with evidence” for showing tests that have lower levels of lead in their water, which is against former Department of Environmental Quality employee Adam Rosenthal.
If you want to help the citizens of Flint with their mission to get clean water, go to this website for more information.
