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By Beth Holloway
The Flint Water Crisis was a public health emergency that started in 2014 when the water supply in the city of Flint, Michigan became contaminated with lead and legionella bacteria. The crisis continues today despite officials claiming that the water is now safe to use. Half a decade of state apathy and negligence towards the residents of Flint has poisoned its population and created mistrust and outrage. Two years on from the official end of the crisis, the residents of Flint are still fighting for justice and compensation.
The Flint Water Crisis
In 2014, amid a budget crisis and a $25 million deficit, Flint’s Governor Snyder appointed an emergency manager to switch the city’s water source from Detroit River to a cheaper alternative: the highly corrosive Flint River. Officials failed to install corrosion inhibitors, allowing lead to leach from the ageing pipes into the water supply. The inadequate treatment of water led to complaints that tap water was foul-smelling, discoloured and causing rashes and hair loss. These complaints were repeatedly ignored. Officials maintained that the water was safe, and in doing so exposed 100,000 residents to elevated lead levels for 18 months.
A study conducted by Virginia Tech found that over 40% of water samples in Flint measured at 5 parts per billion of lead, indicating a ‘very serious’ problem, while some 17% registered at 15 parts per billion, far above the federal requirement for corrective action.
Amongst children, the incidence of elevated blood lead levels tripled. Over 12,000 children were affected by lead poisoning, which can lead to a reduction in IQ, stunted physical growth, cardiovascular disease and increased likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s. On top of that, the largest US outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease, a form of pneumonia, was caused by the failure to maintain high enough chlorine levels to disinfect the water. 12 people died and at least another 87 fell ill as a result.
In 2016, after a coalition of citizen groups launched a lawsuit against the city and state officials and demanded proper water treatment, a door-to-door bottled water service was implemented. Only in 2017 did the government fund the replacement of the lead pipes.
Nevertheless, 500 water service lines still need to be excavated and inspected as they may still be leaching lead. EPA advice is that there is no safe level of exposure to lead as it is ‘a toxic metal that can be harmful to human health even at low exposure levels’, yet these pipes still supply water to thousands of Flint residents.
Charges
Fifteen officials have been charged for violating laws or contributing to the crisis. The director of Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services was charged with involuntary manslaughter over the deaths of two men who developed Legionnaire’s disease, while the state’s Chief Medical Executive was found to be withholding funds when researchers wanted to investigate the Legionnaire’s outbreak. The cover up was further aided by officials who tampered with lead test results by instructing residents to flush their taps before testing the water, in order to contrive artificially low lead level samples.
Governor Snyder was charged with wilful neglect of duty amid claims that he could have acted much sooner, that information on the danger was available to him, and that he was responsible for appointing the officials that switched the water supply to Flint River. He is the first Michigan governor to be charged with alleged criminal conduct while in office.
The Settlement Claim
On 8th March 2021, attorneys representing Flint residents proposed a $641 million settlement claim for the city’s water crisis – more than the state has paid out for lawsuits in the past 10 years combined. While the financial cost of this lawsuit in some ways reflects the magnitude of the damage caused by state negligence, the settlement claim is not the end of the fight for justice.
The attorneys have requested $202 million in fees and $7.1 million in expenses for the law firms who worked on the lawsuit for five years. Slandered by the Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch as ‘a grossly excessive money grab’ by the attorneys, this settlement is just the latest chapter in an eight-year battle for justice for the residents of Flint. State representative Neeley has stated publicly: ‘It is offensive and immoral… Flint families took 100% of the harm, Flint families should not have a third of the settlement taken from them’.
Of the remaining settlement fund, most compensation has been designated for the claims of children exposed to dangerous water. A judge will decide on the verdict of the settlement in the coming weeks.
Settlement Health Concerns
Financial equity is not the only concern raised by the settlement claim. Health advisor to Mayor Neeley, Dr Lawrence Reynolds (one of the first voices to sound the alarm about lead levels in 2014), has filed objections to the settlement on the grounds that its reliance on bone scans to measure lead exposure is ‘a human rights violation’. The equipment used in bone testing is not designed for human use, but for animals.
In his court filing, Reynolds argued that the equipment is being proposed ‘by misinformed attorneys for an undisclosed research project’ and he makes the comparison that ‘It is the Tuskegee experiment all over again’. There are undoubtedly parallels between the Tuskegee experiment and the Flint Water Crisis, both of which affected populations that are majority African American. The Tuskegee experiment 1932-72 took advantage of African American men who needed treatment for syphilis. They were told they were receiving free health care from the US government and instead were used as test subjects in a research project on the effect of untreated syphilis. In Flint, the majority of the population is African American and 45% live beneath the poverty line. The slow violence of state negligence has endangered the lives of a whole generation of people who were ignored and lied to at the great expense of their lives and health.
While the water supply has now been reconnected to the water from Detroit, many residents continue to use bottled water and have a well-founded mistrust of the advice of local officials. Detectable levels of lead continue to be found in places where people are most vulnerable; one of Flint’s Community Schools tested water lead levels of 100 ppb in 2018 - six times higher than the federal action level. The problem persists yet media coverage has fallen to almost zero and many concerns over health and exploitation remain in light of the settlement claim.
The fight for justice in Flint is far from over, and even if the court hearing rules in their favour, the residents of Flint will be left with scars for many years to come. In the coming weeks, the authorities who were in charge during the crisis will receive their verdict and the people of Flint may start to get some justice, but the fight for clean water for every resident in Flint, Michigan continues.
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