More than 10 years later, Flint declares its water safe after replacing lead pipes, but health issues and doubts persist

CNN

2 days ago

Melissa Mays said she may never trust the water from her Flint, Michigan, tap again.
In the 11 years since the city's historic water crisis, Mays said she has battled Legionnaires' disease, autoimmune and seizure disorders, high blood pressure, and other illnesses. Her youngest son, now 21, experienced speech delays as a child after unknowingly drinking lead-poisoned water, she added.
Mays still believes the plumbing lines in her neighborhood are contaminated. The water from her faucets is often yellow and has a foul smell unless it is filtered, she said.
So when Michigan submitted a progress report to a federal court in July stating it had completed the replacement of 11,000 lead pipes, restored 28,000 damaged properties, and the US Environmental Protection Agency lifted its emergency order on Flint's drinking water earlier this year, Mays said she remained skeptical.
Mays is among many Flint residents who said they have lost faith in lawmakers and elected officials after the water crisis devastated their community in 2014, and they still refuse to drink or bathe in the water without a filter.
'Flint is not fixed,' said Mays, a leading activist in the fight for clean, safe drinking water in Flint. 'And we are not going to shut up and go away. Fix us properly because it's the right thing to do.'
Federal officials, however, insist Flint's water is now safe and meets the requirements of the EPA's Safe Drinking Water Act.
'Lifting this emergency order is a cause for great celebration for residents of Flint who worked so hard and sacrificed so much to get to this point,' EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in May. 'Even though the emergency order is lifted, all levels of government must continue to stay in contact and work closely to be a continued resource for the Flint community and ensure their water remains pristine.'
Flint's water crisis began in 2014 when local and state officials switched the city's water supply from Detroit's system to the Flint River as part of a cost-cutting measure.
Officials detected bacteria in the water in August 2014. Warnings were issued to residents, and subsequent testing revealed dangerous levels of lead in the water. Local pediatricians also raised concerns about a growing number of children with elevated lead levels in their blood.
But Flint did not switch its water supply back to Detroit until October 2015.
A landmark settlement reached in March 2017 required the replacement of every Flint resident's lead pipe after residents and nonprofit groups sued city and state officials for exposing the community to contaminated drinking water.
The settlement also required officials to conduct tap water tests, distribute faucet filters and provide education on their use, and fund health programs for residents affected by the contaminated water.
In a separate $600 million settlement, the state of Michigan agreed in 2020 to make direct payments to Flint residents affected by the water crisis. Nearly 80% of the funds are reserved for people who were under 18 when the crisis began.
Flint's water crisis prompted a national call to action, with former President Joe Biden last year setting a 10-year deadline for cities to replace lead pipes. At the time, Biden said more than 9 million lead pipes were still in use across the country.
Lead can enter tap water when pipes and plumbing fixtures corrode. In children, lead exposure can cause hearing, speech, and behavioral problems, brain damage, and slowed growth. In adults, it has been linked to high blood pressure, joint pain, reproductive health issues, and cardiovascular disease.
Matthew Tejada, senior vice president of environmental health for the Natural Resources Defense Council — which was among the nonprofit groups that sued the city and state — said the lead pipe replacement was a victory for Flint residents and activists, who have gone to court multiple times since 2017 to ensure the work was completed.
Tejada said Flint residents should feel safe drinking and using the water now because it is 'being delivered through lead-free pipes.'
He said lead service lines remain a major threat to cities across the country and are often neglected in poor, majority-Black communities like Flint.
'We don't see these problems in wealthy White communities,' Tejada said. 'When they (Flint residents) were shouting from the rooftops looking for help, every level of government failed them. That doesn't happen in a community where there is affluence. That happens in the communities that have been oppressed.'
The Rev. Allen C. Overton of Christ Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Flint said residents have a deep mistrust of local and state government because of the health problems, trauma, and financial burdens they have faced since 2014.
Overton said some members of his congregation still suffer from skin rashes and hair loss caused by the lead-tainted water they drank and showered in. He added that residents had to buy new water heaters, washing machines, and plumbing systems that were damaged during the crisis.
They were never compensated for these losses, Overton said. He also believes the officials who switched the water supply and ignored Flint residents' concerns at the height of the crisis were not fully held accountable.
'Somebody should have had to go to jail,' Overton said.
In 2022, a panel of Michigan Supreme Court judges ruled that indictments against former top state officials, including former Gov. Rick Snyder, for their roles in the Flint water crisis were invalid.
Overton said settlement payments for residents are long overdue. 'Make Flint whole,' he said. 'Give the residents what they truly deserve.
Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley said replacing the lead pipes was a milestone that has helped the city of about 80,000 residents move 'from crisis to recovery.'
Neeley said local officials are focused on regaining the community's trust and understand there are lingering concerns about water quality. He encourages Flint residents to continue using filters if they are not comfortable with the tap water.
However, he said Flint's water is 'testing the best in the state of Michigan, if not the best in the country.'
'We are doing everything we need to do to be in that good space where we can say, 'Yes, our water is tested and monitored,'' Neeley said. 'We are following all the environmental protection agencies at the state level and federal level to make sure we maintain the highest level of standard that we can.'
CNN has reached out to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's office for comment.
Neeley said he submitted a letter in April urging the court-appointed administrator of the $600 million Flint water crisis settlement to release payments to residents.
'Justice delayed is justice denied — we must move from compliance to compensation,' Neely said.
For some people who drank the contaminated water in Flint, their lives have been forever changed.
Nakiya Wakes said she suffered two miscarriages — both with twins — in 2015 and 2017.
Wakes said she didn't stop drinking Flint's tap water until after she returned home from the hospital in 2015 and found a flyer in her mailbox advising pregnant women and elderly people to stop consuming the water.
'The damage had already been done to my system,' she said.
Frustrated by the city's ongoing water problems and separate issues with her landlord, Wakes moved to Niles, Michigan, in 2022.
But the family's health issues — which Wakes believes may be a result of drinking Flint's water in 2014 and 2015 — have followed them.
Wakes' son, now 16, suffers from severe shoulder and neck pain and has experienced behavioral and cognitive problems since he was 5, which forced him to be homeschooled. Wakes, 49, said she recently underwent emergency surgery for blood clots in her lungs.
'They poisoned Flint, and I couldn't protect my own child,' she said.
Mays said the celebration over the lead pipe replacement came at a cost for Flint residents like herself.
She said residents and activists have spent the past decade pleading for clean water, new pipes, and financial compensation for the people of Flint.
'We have people who are just tired of fighting because this is exhausting,' Mays said. 'Not a dime has been given out to residents, nobody is in jail, so it's hard to stay positive.'