10 years after Flint's lead water crisis began, a lack of urgency stalls 'proper justice'
FLINT, Mich. — Ten years ago, smiling politicians posed for cameras while pushing a button, swapping the main tap water source for this majority-Black, impoverished city to the Flint River — the untreated water that started flowing from residents’ taps would become contaminated when it corroded the pipes.
FLINT, Mich. — Ten years ago, smiling politicians posed for cameras while pushing a button, swapping the main tap water source for this majority-Black, impoverished city to the Flint River — the untreated water that started flowing from residents’ taps would become contaminated when it corroded the pipes.
For years afterward, the city’s water was tainted with lead, a human-made crisis that became emblematic of how poorer communities of color in the United States could fall victim to government mismanagement.
In that time, Michigan started and then stopped providing free bottled water to Flint residents; criminal charges were brought and then dismissed against several officials for deaths suspected of being linked to the scandal; and a lawsuit was settled with the state in 2021 for $626 million, but residents have yet to receive a dime.
Now, Mayor Sheldon Neeley contends the city’s work to ensure a Flint free from contaminated drinking water is finally on the “last leg” of the process — a promise that comes as families continue to live with lingering adverse health effects and demand ongoing accountability.
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