Residents of the American city of Flint, Michigan, have taken to social media to vent their anger on city authorities for deceiving them about the safeness of running water in the city.
According to residents, despite the overwhelming evidence that their water has been contaminated with lead, city authorities continued to urge them that there was nothing wrong with it.
BBC reports that the city’s water became contaminated after a change in supplier in 2014. Corrosive water leached lead from old pipes into the water supply. President Barack Obama has declared a state of emergency in the city.
However, Obama’s actions have yet to solve the situation. Residents are demanding that the state’s governor, Rick Snyder, be arrested and prosecuted for his handling of the crisis. Governor Snyder had requested $31m from the federal government. He said the need in the city (population of almost 100,000) far exceeds the state’s capability, and sought a disaster declaration.
According to the local media, President Obama denied the request because such declarations are only made for natural disasters.
Why worry about terrorists when Michigan gov is poisoning kids to save pennies https://t.co/IXpKftVFz4 #Flintwater pic.twitter.com/MxZ4EkLyMr
— Judy Stone (@DrJudyStone) January 9, 2016
According to the Washington Post, in December 2015, a state task force found that city authorities had violated rules requiring that they treat water to avoid the pipe corrosion problems that helped make the water toxic. A team of researchers who exposed the lead contamination in the city, have also said they believe city authorities knew about the health threat of the water, but did nothing to protect the citizens from it. Residents therefore believe that the crisis is a result of human failure, and are angry about the situation.
It is said the city switched its water source from the city of Detroit to the Flint River in 2014. Soon after the switch, residents started suspecting the contamination due to the color and the smell of the water. Residents then started complaining about the water. It is said some residents reported headaches and rashes after using the water from the city’s new supplier. All these reports were lodged with city authorities, but the city authorities told residents that there was nothing wrong with the water.
Welcome to #flintmichigan you thirsty? #disgraceful #poison #contaminatedwater
Posted by Mark Anthony Williams on Thursday, January 14, 2016
It wasn’t until October 2015, that testing of the water in the city revealed increased lead levels in water supplies, and in children’s blood. According to heath experts, lead exposure can cause learning disabilities and behavioral problems in children.
Michigan’s attorney general, Bill Schuette has said he will investigate the water crisis to see whether any state laws were violated.
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services officials have announced that Flint and its surrounding areas have recorded cases of Legionnaires’ disease. Legionnaires disease is a bacterial infection that can be deadly for between 5 to 30 percent of those who contract it. So far, 10 residents are now known to have died from the disease. The bacteria causing Legionnaires is said to dwell in warm water like that found in fountains, hot tubs, the cooling towers of large buildings and, sometimes, plumbing systems.
Natl. Guard assists Michigan with toxic water crisis https://t.co/8GN8L4OJmN – @sganim reports on #FlintWaterCrisis pic.twitter.com/4opBJZRwAU
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 13, 2016
The Washington Post reports that the head of the Virginia Tech Research Team, Marc Edwards—who helped expose the lead contamination in Flint—said there was a very strong likelihood that the new water supply in the city is linked to the increased rate of the disease.
“Our hypothesis is that something about the Flint River and lack of corrosion control, plus big buildings, is creating these problems,” he said.
#FlintWaterCrisis – 99,000 residents – 57% Black – 40% Poor – 9,000 kids with lead poisoning Flint HOSPITAL Water: pic.twitter.com/KHkrnhlUGO
— Mark Elliott (@markmobility) January 14, 2016
Meanwhile, the American singer and actress, Cher has announced that she would donate some 180,000 bottle of water to Flint residents to help alleviate the suffering they are going through.
“This is a tragedy of staggering proportion and shocking that it’s happening in the middle of our country,” she said.
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I’d like to test the water in Placer County, CA, or I’d like to talk someone who has been testing it (preferably someone who doesn’t work for PCWA). The tap water in Rocklin, CA and I’m Roseville, CA has a very strong metallic smell and taste to it. When I shower I feel like I have a sticky substance all over me. It reminds me of the way I felt after I accidentally showered with hard water. My skin and hair are more dry than ever. Lotions, oils and other beauty products do not help. It has changed the soap I use in the shower. I have horrible acne from it often. Sometimes when I first turn on the water it comes out dark orange like the picture you show from Mark Anthony Williams. I am very concerned for my family, friends and the entire population of Placer County and surrounding areas. I think the water has changed gradually enough that people who have been in their homes for many years haven’t noticed the change or they got used to it or they don’t realize a lot of their health problems could be from the water quality here. I have had to take showers at friends and families homes in Placer and Sacramento, Counties for the last 2 to 3 years and noticed it first in Rocklin then in Roseville and most recently in Sacramento. I asked my family in Rocklin if they happened to notice their hair and skin being drastically more dry over the last couple years. They said “yes actually”. I have also noticed that everyone young and old that I know, including myself, are having problems with memory loss. Everyone has been complaining about body cramps more also.
Wow!!!! You are sooo right. I just got over breast cancer but now I am experiencing horrible acne and memory loss among other things.
Hmmm if they poison us we should return the favour! Right? Oh it’s legal for them but illegal for us what BS!
Want to know which companies are behind this mess? Tyson Foods, Halliburton, Shell lobbies the US house to pretend regulation that would protect streams and wetlands.
I have 3 links, and a slew of other genuine evidence that would….enlighten people to a much bigger story.
My life was ruined by one person. Person has taken my civil rights away, I have now lost transfer acceptance to a 4-year university two years in a row.
I’m physically disabled.
I’m homeless.
I’ve registered at three 2-year colleges, and keep getting ambiguously denied financial aid and student loans,and ignored When inquiring as to why.
So I keep reflecting on what the reasons must be as to why this person won’t let me move on with my life and go on to graduate and blah blah blah.
Then I thought about some abnormalities with numbers that I always just ignored because who would just assume that these were wrong.
Then I thought about a time when having a meeting with this individual, and my goals in life were brought up, and of course, I mentioned how I sought to expand the pie, to empower the 99 percent and to end poverty, and to keep our education system accountable and transparent.
4 days later, my nightmare began with a security report of me trying to run someone over, even though the day this was reported, i was at a conference. That was only the beginning.
So three days ago, I decide to do some in-depth reviewing, and with some heavy critical thinking.
This led to a whole bunch of ‘holy shit’ moments, but I still couldn’t make the genuine connections, the necessary ones that don’t allow the corrupted to get away with it because of dead ends, missing accounting reports, and any other average excuse we see when someone very powerful gets away with something we know they’re guilty of.
After 3 days, I google cryptonography because some things were just really not making sense, but in a “there’s a connection here, definitely a pattern, but I haven’t found it yet.”
In two hours of crash coursingi myself on types of cryptonogrphay, I found a specific one that I knew immediately had my answers.
Within one Internet search of this specific one, and 30 minutes of reading and clicking on connecting links, I found it.
And immediately felt sick. I have to whistle blow, but looking for multiple avenues in making this transparent and public because this will end me. But as my life has continued to be ruined, and will continue to be that way, I have no other option.
I’m. Not mentioning specifics because There should have been no way I figured this out, and i prefer to keep that perspective and have people assume that I’m trying to go all in with a par of twos.
In retrospect, I said all of the wrong things and asked all of the wrong questions when now knowing what I was dealing with then. and I’m sitting duck right now, as homeless people casually go missing all the time and no one looks but stories will get spun to drugs and mental health issues.
Don’t let this happen to me. If I go, I want it to be widely known and connected with the information i have, not to some bullshit homeless stereotype.
paragraphs of nothingness .. FU