This past November 2015, Flint residents decided they have had enough; they filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of the victims of high levels of lead in their city’s water against the governor Rick Snyder, the state of Michigan, the city of Flint and other state and city officials. The health effects listed in the class-action suit include: skin lesions, hair loss, high levels of lead in the blood, vision loss, memory loss, depression and anxiety. After all of the complaints it was labeled a public health emergency. “The city ordered public schools to stop running water for taps and water fountains”, according to WEYI-TV, another CNN affiliate. Government agencies passed out more than 6,000 water filters, said Nick Lyon, director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
There have been some accusations happening against the EPA for covering what it knew about the misconduct while Flint residents continued to drink the polluted waters. During a court hearing they discussed Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality and the EPA’s failures to deal with the lead from corroded pipes that leached into city homes. In defense of the EPA, their water official, Joel Beauvais, said the Department of Environmental Quality first said corrosion treatment wasn’t needed for the river water, then “resisted” demands to follow rules requiring it. But Beauvais found himself later on, having no answer to questions regarding criticism from lawmakers who asked why the EPA didn’t tell the public after one of its workers reported high concentrations of lead in a Flint home in February 2015. Lee Anne Walters, the mother of a child who is know suffering from anemia and learning disabilities because of the lead poisoning recalled her lonely crusade for answers when she called the EPA to her house. “The city and MDEQ still told people the water was safe, while the EPA watched in silence,” she said.
Sadly though, 126 days later and counting, and the lead pipes that poisoned the water still sit on the ground. They have been offered help and donations of bottled water from all corners but still the source of the problem which are the pipes yet sits untouched. Flint Mayor Karen Weaver has kept up a constant drumbeat calling for the replacement of the pipes but, so far, the state has failed to heed those calls. It’s been estimated that it will cost upwards of $60 million to replace the lines and it may be a pretty big number but it needs to be done. The pipes need to be replaced.
References:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/05/health/flint-michigan-water-investigation/
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/flint-water-crisis/house-panel-chair-vows-hunt-down-official-behind-flint-water-n510411
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2016/02/months_mount_on_flint_water_cr.html