Chanting “Clean water is what we demand,” “Water is a right” and “No justice, no peace,” dozens of people marched to Flint City Hall on Thursday to demand “justice and accountability” as the Flint water crisis turns 10 years old.
“This march is not just about remembering the past; it’s about shaping our future,” said Claire McClinton of Flint. “We must stand together to ensure that no community ever suffers the same fate as Flint.”
Residents, activists and researchers have described the Flint water crisis as one of the most egregious cases of environmental racism the state and country have ever faced.
In 2011, former Gov. Rick Snyder had appointed an emergency manager to oversee Flint, which was facing a financial crisis. On April 25, 2014, then-Flint Mayor Dayne Walling and other officials praised the switch from Detroit’s water system to the Flint River, part of a cost-cutting move that was estimated to save the cash-strapped city about $5 million in less than two years.
However, officials from the former Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) failed to follow federal regulations put in place by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that required corrosion control chemicals in water. That water then passed through aging pipes and lead service lines, causing them to leak lead into the city’s drinking water supply.
The ensuing water crisis left at least 12 people dead and thousands of people, including children, with lead-contaminated drinking water and was also tied to an outbreak of pneumonia known as Legionnaires’ Disease in 2014 and 2015.
A 2016 study by pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha found that elevated blood levels doubled after the water switch, affecting 4.9% of children. Some neighborhoods saw an increase of as high as 6.6%, according to Hanna-Attisha’s research.
In 2016, the then-President Barack Obama administration declared a federal emergency in Flint and freed up millions in water infrastructure aid. Obama visited the city in 2016 and drank a glass of water.
“I want all of you to know I am confident that Flint will come back,” Obama said at the time. “I will not rest, and I’m going to make sure that the leaders, at every level of government, don’t rest until every drop of water that flows to your homes is safe to drink and safe to cook with, and safe to bathe in — because that’s part of the basic responsibilities of a government in the United States of America.”
Flint has been in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act for seven and 1/2 years, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) announced in December. The city’s water system has tested below action levels for both lead and copper since July 2016, over 15 consecutive testing periods.
However, many of those gathered on Thursday said they are still waiting for justice, which has not come from the court system.
Snyder, a Republican who left office in 2019, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of willful neglect of duty in January 2021, to which he pleaded not guilty. But in 2022, a Genesee County judge dismissed two criminal charges against former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder in the Flint water crisis, saying the charges “were not properly brought.”
And a mistrial was declared in August 2022 in a federal lawsuit against two companies that consulted with the city of Flint during its water crisis, Veolia North America and Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam (LAN).
The crisis did result in the largest civil settlement in Michigan history.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced in March 2023 the Flint water settlement totaling about $626.25 million had been formally approved by Genesee County Circuit Court Chief Judge David J. Newblatt. The state has been ordered to pay $600 million, the city of Flint will pay $20 million, the McLaren Regional Medical Center will pay $5 million and $1.25 million will come from Rowe Professional Services.
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