President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency Saturday for the northern state of Michigan, freeing up money for federal aid for the city of Flint. Residents have been drinking and bathing in lead-contaminated water for almost two years, and children are testing with high levels of lead in their young bodies.
Flint, about an hour’s drive from Detroit, is home to 100,000 people. Most are African American. Forty percent of the population lives in poverty.
The water crisis began in April 2014 when the financially-strapped city began drawing water from the Flint River to save money instead of continuing to use Detroit’s water system.
Flint officials did not properly treat the corrosive Flint River water to prevent metal leaching from old pipes. Flint residents were not told about their tainted drinking water supply for a year and a half.
Flint has returned to using water from Detroit, but officials say its water distribution system may now need to be replaced, costing as much at $1.5 billion.
‘People, pets and even plants’ affected
The Detroit Free Press newspaper says “people, pets and even plants have been affected by the poisonous, lead-contaminated water.” The newspaper says some people stopped using the water immediately after the switch because of the water’s “smell, color and taste,” while others continued to drink and cook with it.
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, director of pediatric residency at Hurley Children’s Hospital, is credited with bringing the problem to the public’s attention after state agencies initially dismissed her concerns. Lead-contaminated water “has such damning, lifelong and generational consequences,” Hanna-Attisha says.
WHO warning
The World Health Organization says, “Too much lead can damage various systems of the body including the nervous and reproductive systems and the kidneys, and it can cause high blood pressure and anemia… Lead is especially harmful to the developing brains of fetuses and young children and to pregnant women… High blood lead levels in children can cause consequences which may be irreversible including learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and mental retardation. At very high levels, lead can cause convulsions, coma and death.”
Michigan Governor Rick Synder declared a state of emergency earlier this month, enabling Flint residents to go to fire stations for a daily case of water per household. But many blame Synder for the current crisis, saying he failed to act until what The New York Times describes as “an outpouring of rage from Flint residents, city leaders, journalists and independent researchers forced him to wake up and focus on the calamity.”
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