Lead in the Water
102,000 people live in Flint, Michigan. Nearly 57% of the residents are black; over 40% of the populace lives below the poverty line. This is a poor, majority-black city. And since April 2014, every man, woman, and child in Flint has been drinking poisoned water.
The facts of this calamity have become public knowledge in recent weeks, but let us recapitulate them here for the sake of frankness. In a cost-cutting measure, Flint was disconnected from its long-standing water supply, opting to draw water directly from Lake Huron via a pipeline that remains under construction. In the interim, water was to be sourced from the Flint River. Within weeks of the switch, complaints poured in about the taste and smell of the river water. It was clear to many in Flint that something was amiss. That something turned out to be lead. The river water proved to be so corrosive to the aging pipes that it caused lead to leach into the city’s water supply.
For a year and a half, the pleas and demands of citizens, doctors, and water safety experts went unheeded and dismissed. A chorus of government officials crowed incessantly that the water was perfectly safe. Even as people grew sick. Even as the water rusted engines in-the-making. The original water supply was finally reinstated in October 2015, but the damage had been done. As of this writing, the water coming out of Flint taps remains unsafe to drink.
Let us not mince words here: lead poisoning is serious shit. It mangles the body in a myriad of ways — everything from tooth decay to kidney damage to birthing complications have been attributed to lead exposure. Most distressing, though, it wreaks havoc on the mind — most especially the child’s mind. As a neurotoxin, lead messes with the healthy development of the human brain. Intellectual disabilities, behavioral and attention problems, a short-circuiting of impulse control potentially leading to increased criminality — these afflictions and more are the fates reserved for children who absorb even low levels of lead.
Estimates for the number of children debilitated range from 6,000 to 12,000. The damage done to their brains due to the ingestion of poison is irreversible. Akin to the water of Flint — at times subject to boil-water advisories — blossoming, vibrant children have had, with every quenching of thirst and every cleansing of grime, their natural capacities vaporized.
However, this reckoning does not nearly address all the suffering visited upon the people of Flint. For by the time it reached their sinks and showers, the murky river water had become contaminated with more than just lead. As far back as August 2014, testing turned up coliform bacteria, spurring authorities to inject disinfecting chlorine into the water supply. But the chemical was overused, thus contaminating the water with carcinogenic byproducts known as THMs. When THM levels peaked, citizens and the city council pressed for a return to the city’s original water supply. Indifferent to the poisonous effects of the odious and tainted water piped into homes and schools and hospitals, the state-appointed emergency manager of Flint refused.
We must concede, though, with a grim aspect, that our accounting is still not complete. One final infestation has been uncovered: Legionella, the harbinger of Legionnaire’s disease, has been found swimming in the muck. 87 cases have been reported; 10 of these have been fatal. The outbreak has yet to be definitively attributed to the toxic river water, but this much is true: the first case was reported two months after the supply switch, and the man most responsible for exposing the malfeasance in Michigan believes a link to be plausible.
How and why, we demand! How and why did it take so long for agents of the state to acknowledge, let alone undertake, efforts to rectify this crisis? Well, with each passing day, the timeline of events in Flint becomes, unlike the water flowing from the faucets, ever more clear: lies and callousness and failure of duty by men and women entrusted with positions of stewardship fostered the poisoning of this community.
These, in all their foulness, are the established facts. What, then, is to be done? Energies should be devoted to the furtherance of two aims: the furnishing of Flint with potable water and the meting out of justice. Both should be carried out with all possible swiftness.
The continued cause of Flint’s woes are the pipes. The pipes are beyond repair. They need to be replaced. They have needed replacement since the first drops of river water streamed through. Flint’s mayor announced on Tuesday that, at long last, this process will begin next month.
Recompense for the devastation is also under way. Local, state and federal officials have already resigned. But that is not enough when dealing with iniquity of this magnitude. They, and perhaps others, are undoubtedly culpable of a crime. Investigations must be carried out, and those found guilty should languish for a number of years in prison as punishment for the primitive misery they inflicted upon their fellow citizens.
It is questionable if criminal culpability extends also to Governor Rick Snyder. If one has decided in the affirmative to this question, then I encourage you to sign this petition. Though far from convinced of the efficacy of online petitions in the political sphere, if you want to soothe your impotent rage, it can’t hurt to sign. Worst case scenario: nothing comes of it and you receive a few emails from Michael Moore.
Talk of criminality aside, Governor Snyder should resign without delay. An administrative failing such as this is indefensible for an elected leader. But if he will not humble himself before the people he misgoverned, he ought to be compelled to do so. Recall the man from office. I understand the first steps have been taken toward this end. Good.
This is 21st-century America. We have accrued knowledge and resources unrivaled in human history, and yet, for over a year and a half, more than 100,000 of us were condemned to drink poisoned water. Like their peers across the country, Flint schoolchildren daily salute the flag and proclaim “liberty and justice for all”. After seeing what has gushed from their fountains, these children can tell you, for the boy born with the darkened skin or the girl born with the empty pockets, our claim remains an aspiration.
