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| Plumbers for Flint |
In January, 2016, over 300 Union Plumbers travelled to the town of Flint, Michigan, to voluntarily install free water filters for residents following the water crisis that has engulfed the city since 2014. Following 2008 recession that not only resulted in a housing crisis but also in the loss of further jobs at General Motors, main employer of the town, in 2010 Michigan elected governor Rick Snyder, who appointed an Emergency Financial Manager (EFM), an individual who is appointed by the governor to take control of a local government under a financial emergency. In this instance, the usual powers of mayor and the city council no longer apply. EFMs disproportionately affect African American populations in the state, with over half living under EFM, even though African Americans only constitute 14% of Michigan’s population.
As part of fiscal tightening, water infrastructure became a target. A temporary solution identified by the then EFM Darnell Earley was to use the Flint River instead of the Detroit River to supply the city water. It is widely known that the Flint River is heavily polluted from GM activities. To make the water drinkable, an anti-corrosion agent needed to be added, estimated at a cost of $100 a day to prevent lead leaching, which the EFM decided was too expensive.
Since the switch, 12 people to date have died from Legionnaires, and more than 90 others have survived it, living with lasting effects and health problems. The E.Coli bacteria was also discovered in the supply, where authority addressed this by adding bleach to the system. Less than six months after the switch, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, made the results of her study of lead poisoning in Flint’s children public.
In the same year, GM complained that the water was corroding and rusting their engine parts. GM paid to be re-connected back to the Detroit River. At the same time the governors’ office, and city council were all using bottled water, but insisted the water supply was safe.
Text by Kim Trogal