How Flint tapped in to community action
How citizen science and activism can campaign for clean and safe drinking water
In 2014, the water supply to the city of Flint, Michigan was switched from the Detroit system to the Flint river to cut costs. Improper treatment of the water supply led to issues with water quality and serious consequences for the health and wellbeing of residents.
The water was contaminated, and Flint residents were being poisoned.
Low chlorine levels in the water system led to an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that spread to 100 people and killed 12. The contaminated water also corroded old pipes, leaching lead – a neurotoxin that can cause irreversible damage to neurological and cognitive function in children – into the supply. Dangerously high levels of lead have been found in the blood of children from areas where the water was shown to be unsafe.
And one of the reasons we know about what happened in Flint? Citizen science, combined with community activism.