CPOY

CPOY 71 Domestic Picture Story Silver: We Fear the Water

Flint, Michigan, a city of 100,000 people, saw it’s financial collapse come with the swift exodus of General Motors. It’s citizens have faced unparalleled socioeconomic disadvantages such as frequent public school closings, gun violence, a dwindling city budget and today, a water crisis that has left thousands, both old and young, exposed to high levels of a known neurotoxin -- lead. Residents were drinking the water for almost two years before they were notified of it’s presence. This notification didn’t come from government officials responbilte for environmental quality, but instead the work of a local pediatrician, Dr. Mona Hanna Attisha, and Dr. Marc Edwards of Virginia Tech. Their work only confirmed the deep rooted suspicions held by local residents. The lead had been leaching through the eroded pipes and in some neighborhoods, the number of children with lead poisoning tripled. Despite an brief influx of aid and a moment in the spotlight, those still living in city of Flint are left coping with a failing infrastructure, a lost trust in their government system and a looming sense of fear for their health. Flint’s water crisis is not an anomaly, but an example of total government oversight, political corruption, the decline of American infrastructure and the growing separation of the classes.

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Bertha White, 64, of Flint, Mich., opens her front door to local police officers to accept a new filter and gallon jugs of water during a distribution to residents by the Genesee County sheriff's office on January 7, 2016. Distributions continued through the day on the city's north side, which is lower income, with 1,000 water filters on the service truck. A primary worry for local officials had been that the limited mobility for the elderly forced them to drink the lead tainted tap water for longer than the rest of the population. The door to door program was eventually replaced by a hotline that elderly citizens could call for water deliveries.
Brittany Greeson / Western Kentucky University
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