After several different conversations over the past few weeks, I am stunned as to how many people think that the Flint Water Crisis happened two years ago. As in… they thought it was over? They don’t realize that as of today, January 9 of 2017, it has been more than 471 days since people had clean drinking water flowing through their taps in Flint.
People were told last year that the water was safe enough for bathing, but a lot of residents have a hard time trusting government officials. I can’t say that I blame them.
The pipes are being replaced, but it continues to be a slow and grueling process. Just last month, Google teamed up with the U of M to develop and release the Flint Water App. This mobile app helps residents assess the risk of lead.
And she has not been silent about her disgust with what lead up to the Flint Water Crisis, and now Cher will star in a Lifetime movie about the crisis. I was able to talk to Cher on my show, The Punch-Out Party, to encourage people to get out and vote. But we also took a good chunk of our time to talk about the situation in Flint. She was among, if not, the first of many celebrities who used their platform to shine a light on our broken infrastructure.
I visited with a friend who lives in Flint just yesterday, and we discussed where everything stands now over a case of bottled water on a chair next to her front door. She told me that she keeps getting updates from the city, but that she still would rather shower at the gym than in her own home.
Mid-Michigan is my home. I’ve seen what’s happened to the area by no fault of the residents. It’s more than sad to see what has happened, it’s tragic. Thankfully the situation is being fixed. It just seems to me and the residents of Flint that it’s taking way too long.
