Flint Water Crisis

A community that is already facing economic hardship and in poverty is facing a critical issue concerning its water supply. The water supply was full of lead which causes skin issues, leads to disease, and causing permanent brain damage for the people. The water system should have been tested before it was passed to ensure its safety. The state officials even withheld results and changed records afterwards to try to cover up their mistake and avoid consequences. The state of Michigan is also fighting to stop providing clean water for its people, a need to survive. The people in the city are fed up with the government neglect and have been protesting for clean water. They need a change.

Flint, Michigan has been declared in a state of emergency. All of this has caused a very expensive water bill.

At first Flint, Michigan was doing well when General Motors opened in 1908 and built a plant in the city bringing thousands of people to the area to work, and building new houses and creating jobs; the city grew. Flint’s economy was doing well selling lots of cars and with most the people there working for the plant. Then in the 1990s General Motors filed for bankruptcy and closed their plant leaving a large population of people unemployed. When the plant closed, people moved elsewhere for work leaving vacant houses everywhere. Over fifty years the population of Flint, Michigan drastically decreased by half. This caused an economic downfall, people stopped spending their money and started trying to save instead, causing other businesses to go bankrupt. “More than 41% of Flints residents live below the poverty level, according to the U.S. Census” (CNN). Lots of the people there are in poverty and unemployed, Flint, Michigan also has a higher than the national average rate for unemployment with it being twice as much in 2009.

A city in an economic depression turned to crime. Flint, Michigan has been known for 3 years in a row as the most violent city in America, top in the nation for violent crimes. The city has also been top in the nation for homicide before too. The streets of Flint, Michigan was not a safe place to be for any one, leaving a traumatized city. The city then started to burn, vacant houses from families that had moved out were torched. Cars were also torched, with an abundance of those since the bankruptcy of General Motors. Things didn’t seem like they could get any worse in Flint, Michigan.

In 2014 Flint, Michigan switched to a different water system, using water from the Flint river instead of the Detroit water system, the pipes soon rusted and corroded leaving high traces of lead and other chemicals flowing in the water. The water from the Flint river was full of lead and other chemicals. The water should have been tested to make sure it was safe before running it through the water system to the people. However, state officials did not conduct proper tests of the water quality and fixed the results, allowing un-safe water to pass through the pipes. People from Flint have since then tested positive for high levels of lead in their bodies. The water leaves long term brain damage and causes skin problems and other developmental diseases in children. "My kids are getting poisoned from something that's a necessity and as a parent there's nothing I can do to help them. It's already in them, I can't take it out, and there's no medicine for it."(NBCNews) one parent said about the water crisis as she talked about its devastating effects on her kids and the irreversible damage it causes on developing children, and how helpless it all makes her feel. Families are left having to bathe and cook with bottled water to avoid using contaminated water. Over 50 lawsuits have already been filed demanding compensation for medical bills and the stress its causes to the families. Several are filing class action lawsuits against the “city and state officials responsible for the lead-poisoning crisis that has made Flint into a symbol of government failure and environmental disaster”(NBCnews).

The President of the United States has declared Flint, Michigan in a state of Emergency. City officials have since been charged with lying to federal agents, tampering with reports, and manipulating water tests results, which are all felonies. When the water system changed, it was known the water could possibly be dangerous but instead of running proper tests and experiments, the state officials took a ‘wait and see’ approach. When tests results came back showing that the water is unsafe, the results were tampered with to make the water appear safe. The government failed to protect its people and now needs to be held responsible. A federal judge ordered Michigan to provide clean water to its people. Michigan soon started to fight the ruling due to the high costs of providing bottled water, the average family uses 150 bottles of water a day. Since that program ended people are left having to filter and boil their water to make it safe to use. The cost of water in Flint is highest in the nation, and double the state average (Washington post). Some have claimed that the water reports are showing a decrease in the levels of lead in the water, however still above more than is safe. So how is it fair for an economically challenged area to be paying more for poisoned water?

Action needs to be taken in Flint, Michigan in order to protect the residents from another scandal. For the state to recover from this tragedy steps need to be taken to make sure it never happens again and to allow the residents to be able to fully recover from the crisis. Safety procedures should be set up to test the water, and the next water system before it is used. And this time the state needs to be honest with the test results, with new state officials who have gone through proper training in charge of running the tests. The state officials need to be held responsible for their negligence and should be found guilty in their court trials to help the people get closure. People need to take action and be involved in their community to keep a watch on the government and what is going on in their home town. The people of Flint, Michigan should be more involved in politics to come to make sure that everything is in favor of the people and will keep them safe. The politics of Flint, Michigan need to change.

Until the water crisis is resolved water should be provided. Clean water is a necessity in cooking, cleaning, and living. The government should be protecting and providing for everyone’s basic survival needs. Clean water should be provided for everyone in the city until the water is safe again, whether it be bottled water or filtered water. Michigan has canceled its support by no longer providing clean water for its people. If the state is not going to provide water, people should donate bottled water or money to provide clean water to Flint to help the people survive. Donate to support Flint, Michigan. People in Flint need our support during their devastating times to help them recover.

The water crisis happening in Flint, Michigan is a devastating example of a community that is already facing hard times still suffering. The city of Flint has already been through a lot, with economic changes leading to a depression and high crime rates. People already felt unsafe in their community due to high crime, and now they are feeling unsafe again due to extremely dangerous and toxic water. The people were neglected and treated unfairly because the state officials weren’t concerned about its people’s safety and that is something that needs to change. No matter who is living in a community or what the community has gone through people should be able to feel safe and protected, not scared and sick. There basic human needs were not considered or protected. Clean water is something everyone in the U.S. should have access to, it’s a basic human need. The crisis in Flint, Michigan could have been avoided in the beginning if the water was tested and the state was truly concerned about its peoples safety instead of trying to save money by not conducting the proper tests. The people are becoming sick and actions need to be done to change this and to hold those responsible. I hope the city of Flint can recover from this tragedy, having already faced so many. With our support, we can change the city, the people need to know that someone believes in them and will support them by donating clean bottled water to help. With our donations, they can start to focus on recovery and rebuilding the community stronger, so that nothing like this ever happens again.