SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Movement Grows to Stop Shutoffs Over Toxic Water Bills in Flint
As the water crisis persists in Flint, Mich., concerned residents and their national allies are calling for a moratorium on water bills and shutoffs until the water is safe to drink.
Jan 22, 2016
While lead continues to leach into and poison Flint's tap water, the City of Flint plans to shut off the water service to residents who have not paid for their toxic water. On Thursday, Food & Water Watch and concerned residents called on the city and the governor to stop billing residents for undrinkable water.
In 2014, a state-appointed emergency manager switched Flint's water source from Detroit's system to the polluted Flint River in order to cut costs.
Almost immediately, residents noticed changes in the smell, color and taste of their tap water. Bacterial contamination from the polluted river forced the city to issue boil advisories, so the city increased the amount of chlorine it used to kill the pathogens, resulting in high levels of potentially carcinogenic disinfectant byproducts.
Emails released by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder late Wednesday afternoon indicate that state officials were contemptuous of public concerns about Flint's water, suggesting that the water problems were merely "initial hiccups" and that the violations of federal regulations for disinfectant byproducts were "not like an eminent [sic] threat to public health." Despite knowing about the problems with Flint's water, for months, Governor Snyder's administration and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) continued to tell Flint residents that their water was safe to drink.
For Flint residents, the most immediate and widespread harm has been lead poisoning. At the direction of the DEQ, Flint failed to put in place proper corrosion controls, so lead and other heavy metals leached into Flint's drinking water and poisoned residents. In response to a mass organizing effort spearheaded by the grassroots group Water You Fighting For, with more than 26,000 people signing petitions demanding safe water for Flint, the city and governor returned Flint to safer Detroit water.
Unfortunately, the Flint River water was so corrosive that it permanently damaged the city's old cast iron pipelines. Lead continues to contaminate the city's water supply.
After nationwide calls for federal intervention in the Flint water crisis, President Barack Obama has declared a state of emergency in Flint. The city will need as much as $1.5 billion in improvements to reverse the damage done to its water system, while Flint residents face a lifetime of healthcare costs. More than 115,000 people have petitioned President Obama and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to declare a public health emergency in Flint to provide additional federal assistance and relief to residents.
Amid this continuing water crisis, the City of Flint is sending out shut off notices to residents who have not paid their water bills. Residents already cannot drink their tap water and now they could lose water service needed to flush their toilets and wash their hands.
"In 2016, it's shocking that an entire U.S. city cannot drink its tap water. Now they are shutting off residents for overdue bills. But no one should have to pay for poisoned tap water," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. "Today we're calling on Mayor Karen Weaver, Flint's Chief Financial Officer Jody Lundquist and City Administrator Natasha Henderson to stop the water shut offs in Flint, restore service where it has been disconnected and to cease billing for Flint water until this tragic situation has been corrected."
Flint is not the first city to fall victim to the shortsighted quick fixes of emergency management, particularly in Michigan. Conservative-led austerity measures have stripped communities like Flint, Detroit and Highland Park of democracy, taking control of vital resources like water away from the people and placing them in the hands of emergency managers who then cut corners, shut off water service and pave the way for corporate control.
"We must reverse the austerity measures that have brought Flint to this dire place," Hauter added, "and we must commit federal funding to upgrade our water infrastructure, so no community suffers without access to safe, clean, affordable water."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
© 2021 Food & Water Watch
Mary Grant
Mary Grant is the Public Water for All Campaign director at Food & Water Watch. She oversees campaigns to support universal access to safe water in the United States by promoting responsible and affordable public provision of water and sewer service.
While lead continues to leach into and poison Flint's tap water, the City of Flint plans to shut off the water service to residents who have not paid for their toxic water. On Thursday, Food & Water Watch and concerned residents called on the city and the governor to stop billing residents for undrinkable water.
In 2014, a state-appointed emergency manager switched Flint's water source from Detroit's system to the polluted Flint River in order to cut costs.
Almost immediately, residents noticed changes in the smell, color and taste of their tap water. Bacterial contamination from the polluted river forced the city to issue boil advisories, so the city increased the amount of chlorine it used to kill the pathogens, resulting in high levels of potentially carcinogenic disinfectant byproducts.
Emails released by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder late Wednesday afternoon indicate that state officials were contemptuous of public concerns about Flint's water, suggesting that the water problems were merely "initial hiccups" and that the violations of federal regulations for disinfectant byproducts were "not like an eminent [sic] threat to public health." Despite knowing about the problems with Flint's water, for months, Governor Snyder's administration and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) continued to tell Flint residents that their water was safe to drink.
For Flint residents, the most immediate and widespread harm has been lead poisoning. At the direction of the DEQ, Flint failed to put in place proper corrosion controls, so lead and other heavy metals leached into Flint's drinking water and poisoned residents. In response to a mass organizing effort spearheaded by the grassroots group Water You Fighting For, with more than 26,000 people signing petitions demanding safe water for Flint, the city and governor returned Flint to safer Detroit water.
Unfortunately, the Flint River water was so corrosive that it permanently damaged the city's old cast iron pipelines. Lead continues to contaminate the city's water supply.
After nationwide calls for federal intervention in the Flint water crisis, President Barack Obama has declared a state of emergency in Flint. The city will need as much as $1.5 billion in improvements to reverse the damage done to its water system, while Flint residents face a lifetime of healthcare costs. More than 115,000 people have petitioned President Obama and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to declare a public health emergency in Flint to provide additional federal assistance and relief to residents.
Amid this continuing water crisis, the City of Flint is sending out shut off notices to residents who have not paid their water bills. Residents already cannot drink their tap water and now they could lose water service needed to flush their toilets and wash their hands.
"In 2016, it's shocking that an entire U.S. city cannot drink its tap water. Now they are shutting off residents for overdue bills. But no one should have to pay for poisoned tap water," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. "Today we're calling on Mayor Karen Weaver, Flint's Chief Financial Officer Jody Lundquist and City Administrator Natasha Henderson to stop the water shut offs in Flint, restore service where it has been disconnected and to cease billing for Flint water until this tragic situation has been corrected."
Flint is not the first city to fall victim to the shortsighted quick fixes of emergency management, particularly in Michigan. Conservative-led austerity measures have stripped communities like Flint, Detroit and Highland Park of democracy, taking control of vital resources like water away from the people and placing them in the hands of emergency managers who then cut corners, shut off water service and pave the way for corporate control.
"We must reverse the austerity measures that have brought Flint to this dire place," Hauter added, "and we must commit federal funding to upgrade our water infrastructure, so no community suffers without access to safe, clean, affordable water."
Mary Grant
Mary Grant is the Public Water for All Campaign director at Food & Water Watch. She oversees campaigns to support universal access to safe water in the United States by promoting responsible and affordable public provision of water and sewer service.
While lead continues to leach into and poison Flint's tap water, the City of Flint plans to shut off the water service to residents who have not paid for their toxic water. On Thursday, Food & Water Watch and concerned residents called on the city and the governor to stop billing residents for undrinkable water.
In 2014, a state-appointed emergency manager switched Flint's water source from Detroit's system to the polluted Flint River in order to cut costs.
Almost immediately, residents noticed changes in the smell, color and taste of their tap water. Bacterial contamination from the polluted river forced the city to issue boil advisories, so the city increased the amount of chlorine it used to kill the pathogens, resulting in high levels of potentially carcinogenic disinfectant byproducts.
Emails released by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder late Wednesday afternoon indicate that state officials were contemptuous of public concerns about Flint's water, suggesting that the water problems were merely "initial hiccups" and that the violations of federal regulations for disinfectant byproducts were "not like an eminent [sic] threat to public health." Despite knowing about the problems with Flint's water, for months, Governor Snyder's administration and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) continued to tell Flint residents that their water was safe to drink.
For Flint residents, the most immediate and widespread harm has been lead poisoning. At the direction of the DEQ, Flint failed to put in place proper corrosion controls, so lead and other heavy metals leached into Flint's drinking water and poisoned residents. In response to a mass organizing effort spearheaded by the grassroots group Water You Fighting For, with more than 26,000 people signing petitions demanding safe water for Flint, the city and governor returned Flint to safer Detroit water.
Unfortunately, the Flint River water was so corrosive that it permanently damaged the city's old cast iron pipelines. Lead continues to contaminate the city's water supply.
After nationwide calls for federal intervention in the Flint water crisis, President Barack Obama has declared a state of emergency in Flint. The city will need as much as $1.5 billion in improvements to reverse the damage done to its water system, while Flint residents face a lifetime of healthcare costs. More than 115,000 people have petitioned President Obama and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to declare a public health emergency in Flint to provide additional federal assistance and relief to residents.
Amid this continuing water crisis, the City of Flint is sending out shut off notices to residents who have not paid their water bills. Residents already cannot drink their tap water and now they could lose water service needed to flush their toilets and wash their hands.
"In 2016, it's shocking that an entire U.S. city cannot drink its tap water. Now they are shutting off residents for overdue bills. But no one should have to pay for poisoned tap water," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. "Today we're calling on Mayor Karen Weaver, Flint's Chief Financial Officer Jody Lundquist and City Administrator Natasha Henderson to stop the water shut offs in Flint, restore service where it has been disconnected and to cease billing for Flint water until this tragic situation has been corrected."
Flint is not the first city to fall victim to the shortsighted quick fixes of emergency management, particularly in Michigan. Conservative-led austerity measures have stripped communities like Flint, Detroit and Highland Park of democracy, taking control of vital resources like water away from the people and placing them in the hands of emergency managers who then cut corners, shut off water service and pave the way for corporate control.
"We must reverse the austerity measures that have brought Flint to this dire place," Hauter added, "and we must commit federal funding to upgrade our water infrastructure, so no community suffers without access to safe, clean, affordable water."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.