There are several locations around the world whose names are referenced as a disaster point, such as Chernobyl, Russia. When a disaster hits a town/city, province or country, it is the responsibility of government officials to mitigate and adapt to the oncoming disaster. But what about when a disaster is created by the government to avoid spending money? The story of Flint, Michigan is a story of just that; a grave misjudgement by the local authorities who put the lives of their citizens at risk.
In 2011, after years of decreased employment, loss of revenue from taxes, and budget cuts towards Flint City, the administration decided to declare financial bankruptcy. This resulted in Michigan state to undemocratically take control of Flint City’s budget. This disaster was spurred by the state of Michigan cutting the city’s budget to the point of switching Flint’s water supply from Lake Huron to the untreated Flint River water. The State of Michigan had to pay Detroit for the treated water they obtained from Lake Huron and by cutting this supply of water, Flint City was projected to save $5 million dollars over a two-year period.
In order to make Flint River’s water drinkable, the city had to spend only $100 a day to add an anti-corrosive agent, which would prevent the corrosion and seeping of lead from the pipes. The State of Michigan refused to do this, however, as they prioritized the ‘saving’ of money.
By April 2014, the City of Flint had officially switched to the Flint River as their new source of water, despite the fact that Flint River’s water supply was tested to be 19 times more corrosive than Lake Huron’s treated water supply.
By May 2014, thousands of mostly low-income families, people of colour and marginalized citizens of Flint lodged complaints to their city officials about the quality of the water. They said that the colour, taste and smell of the water unsuitable for drinking. The state and city officials did not respond.
After a media outrage and thousands of angry residents complaining to their elected officials, the City of Detroit offered to reconnect Flint, Michigan back to its water supply and was kindly willing to waive the $4 million connection fees. Still the City of Flint declined Detroit’s offer because they did not want to pay $1 million dollars a month for water fees to Detroit and furthermore, Flint sold important pieces of their transmission pipe to Genesee County, thus not being able to afford to reconnect themselves back to Detroit.
An internal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) memo was leaked by American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in order to highlight the levels of lead in the drinking water and the general unsafe condition of the Flint water supply. Throughout April 2015, Virginia Tech decided to launch its own investigations into the quality and lead levels of Flint water supply, after city officials refused to believe EPA’s findings.
By September 2015, Dr. Hanna Attisha, a doctor in Michigan, stated that her research confirmed elevated lead levels in Flint’s water supply and finally, the state of Michigan accepted that Flint’s water supply had elevated lead levels, causing Flint’s citizens to have elevated lead levels in their blood.
Finally, by October 8 2015, the Governor of Michigan announced that the City of Flint will be reconnected back to Detroit’s water supply because of the public outrage, intense media coverage and political backlash faced by government officials.
On October 19 2015, the Michigan State’s Environmental Chief stated that his staff made a grave error in the transition from City of Detroit’s water supply to Flint River’s water supply by not enforcing local government officials to add the $100 a day, anti- corrosive agent into the water. He stated that this anti-corrosive agent could have prevented 90% of the problems which occurred in the Flint water supply transition because this agent would have prevented the leeching of lead from lead pipes.
The infrastructural damage to the lead pipes, the switching of water supply back to Detroit City and the reconstruction of the transmission pipes (which allows Detroit City to transport the water supply to Flint City) needed to be reconstructed after this fiasco. Due to the rising cost of bottled water provided by Michigan, the Governor of Michigan requested for bottled water by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Governor requested federal aid as well.
The state of Michigan gave approximately $28 million to Flint City for infrastructural improvements and the Mayor of Flint requested another $55 million to replace all of Flint City’s lead pipes as well.
In the United States of America clean water is not accessible to everyone. This is a place where poor and marginalized members of society suffer the most from unclean and untreated water. Due to the lack of wealth in these communities, they suffer the health and environmental consequences of these disastrous political or economical decisions made by their elected officials.
There are thousands of communities across the U.S. and Canada where accessibility to clean water is limited or is completely absent. The reason Flint’s water crisis improved over time was because of media pressure, public shaming and political pressure from the public. Still there are thousands of communities across North America who do not have anyone to advocate on their behalf. They are truly the voiceless citizens in these nations, without access to the basic needs that many of us take for granted.
By Abdeali Saherwala
Please note that opinions expressed are the author’s own. They do not necessarily reflect the views and values of The Blank Page
