Flint, The Poisoned City: Death In My Tapped Water.

The 2020 Global Water Justice Summit, Detroit Michigan organised by the Cass United Methodist Church.

The Summit saw a gathering of Water Justice Advocates from both First and Third World Countries.  They all had a water story to tell the world.

The first session was a video watching session of the History of the Flint Water Crisis.

This is a story that has become to be known as: The Poisoned City: Flint’s Water and the American Urban Tragedy.

The Flint water crisis is a story of environmental injustice and bad decision making by the Municipality together with Government Officials. In April 2014, Flint changed its drinking water source from treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department water, sourced from Lake Huron and the Detroit River to the Flint River. Inadequate treatment and testing of the water resulted in a series of major water quality and health issues for Flint residents. Government officials looked the other side as complaints mounted that the taped water piped into Flint homes for over 18 months had a foul-smell, was discoloured, and had an off-ish taste.

As days and months went by, the residents couldn’t continue in silence as the effects of drinking lead laden water had become catastrophic. This was just the beginning of a public health issue for the Flint residents. Residents employed their own Scientist to test their taped water as they didn’t trust government scientist, and taped was found to have very high levels of lead. Bear in mind that, there is no acceptable level of lead in any drinking water. Lead should never be found in drinking water, even in very low levels. It is a poison and it kills.

Effects of drinking lead laden water included:

• More than 90 deaths according to Flint residents but official reports say 12

• Skin rashes

• Hair loss

• Itchy skin

• Miscarriages

But the Flint water crisis did not start in 2014. It dates back to the Industrial Revolution with the story of a City enjoying an economic boom. The first industries to be set were the Lumber Industries in the 1830s and they deposited all their waste downstream of the Flint River. Lumber industry then gave birth to the paper mills, and chemical processing industries, and more waste water and chemicals found their way into the river.

A century later the forests around Flint were almost cleared and the city switched from lumber and paper to carriages and finally automobiles. More and more chemical laden waste water found its way into the Flint River.

But who cared about river water when the economy was booming and everyone was happy and had enough money to spend.

In 1934 a concerned Genessee County conservation officer named Ivan Kester noticed that fish in Flint River were dying. He sent seven fish to the University of Michigan’s newly formed Institute for Fisheries Research for testing. The results showed that pollution had lowered oxygen levels in the river, suffocating the fish.

But no one cared….. It’s just fish…..

As the Automobile industry grew, so did the economy of Michigan State. General Motors was the biggest producers of the cars then. Jobs were created, the city expanded, thousands of Americans and internationals moved to Michigan.

Everyone wanted a piece of this sweet-pie. But there was a price. As the population grew so were the sources and the amount of pollution. Raw sewage discharges from Flint’s wastewater plant raised fecal coliform bacteria, phenol from GM plants and ammonia from agriculture activities contributed more toxic materials to the Flint River.

Almost 190 years later….. It is 2014, and there is death in Flint’s taped water. When the water source was changed to Flint River, officials failed to apply corrosion inhibitors to the water. As a result, chemicals from the Flint river and lead from aging pipes leached into the water supply, leading to extremely elevated levels of the heavy metal neurotoxin and exposing over 100,000 residents to elevated lead levels. Instead of immediately switching back to Detroit River, officials added more and more chemicals to the water to try to reduce the lead levels. It didn’t help, rather more and more people got sick, especially children.

Tapped water was not safe to drink anymore, forcing residents to buy expensive bottled water. Bottled water companies cashed in on the misfortunes of the Flint residents. And for those who couldn’t afford to buy bottled water…. they continued drinking their way to their ill health or graves.

1. Water is a global issue and not a 3rd world countries crisis.

2. All water sources need to be protected and should never be poisoned. Rivers, dams, creeks and underground water storage.

3. Government officials have to effectively implement policies and legislation that protect water sources and both human and wildlife.

4. Through advocacy, communities ought to hold officials accountable for the water injustices.

5. Water has to be accessible

6. Water has to be affordable

7. Water has to be safe to drink.

8. We all have to employ effective ways of saving and protecting water at a household, community and national level.