Flint
In 2014 Michigan's governor, Rick Snyder, a Republican, decided to change the source of the city's water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River in order to save money. The acidic, polluted water from the river caused lead to leach from pipes. Its corrosive nature contaminated the drinking water. Which caused an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease. At least 12 people died from the infection. The lead poisoning of the thousands of city's residents had catastrophic health consequences lasting for decades. Around 20,000 children lived in Flint at the time who were affected. Lead can be toxic. Especially for children as they are more vulnerable. Parents in Flint said their children were showing dangerously high blood levels of lead, which can cause developmental disorders. To this day many residents of the city still drink bottled water in fear of this incident. Even though the pipes have been replaced. A US federal judge this week awarded $626 million to residents of the city of Flint in a settlement against the state of Michigan. It was one of the largest civil settlements in Michigan's history . For many, the Flint water scandal symbolizes the United States's environmental racism. It refers to the disproportionate exposure of African Americans to pollutants in the air, water or soil. Around 57 percent of Flint's 100,000 residents are Black, and more than a third live below the poverty line. This tragedy in Flint became a symbol of social injustice in the United States. But wait. There is more. Flint was just the tip of the iceberg. Reuters found nearly 3,000 areas with recently recorded lead poisoning rates at least double those in Flint. And more than 1,100 of these communities had a rate of elevated blood tests at least four times higher. Can America provide clean drinking water to Americans?
