Consider This from NPR - Lessons Learned From Flint

Episode Date: September 22, 2021

The infrastructure bill moving through Congress includes billions to replace lead pipes. In Flint, Mich., NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with residents on how governments can tackle a water crisis equitably.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theschmidt.org. Alan Overton is the pastor at Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Flint, Michigan. We just celebrated my third anniversary. Congratulations. He carries himself with gravitas, wearing a suit, tie, and cufflinks. And he tells me there's one thing that could always strip away that air of buttoned-up poise, drinking from a water fountain. I'm a big kid in that aspect.

I like water fountains. I like to see the water squirt up and try to get into my mouth. But I'm not a fan of it anymore. In 2014, the government pumped water into Flint homes that corroded the lead from service pipes. And for months, officials insisted the water was safe. Internal emails have shown that they continued to tell people it was drinkable, even when state leaders knew it was poisoned. Pastor Overton was one of the people who sued Flint and Michigan state officials. That resulted in a settlement for almost a hundred million dollars to get lead pipes replaced. At the church, he's had all the water fountains turned off. Most have been removed

from the building. There's still one in the church basement, covered in a big trash bag. Pastor Overton pushes the button and nothing comes out. Right next to it is a water cooler that everybody uses instead. Pastor Overton's mistrust of tap water goes beyond fountains, even beyond his hometown of Flint. He was recently in Ohio. We were out on vacation and I had my grandson with me and I was like, whoa, we'll buy some water. We weren't even in Michigan. I said, I'll buy some water. Let me just buy you a bottle of water. I don't trust water fountains anymore. Anywhere. Anywhere. You hear this sort of thing a lot from people in Flint. They've been on a long, hard road for

years. Today, more than 90% of the lead pipes running to people's homes in Flint. They've been on a long, hard road for years. Today, more than 90% of the lead pipes running to people's homes in Flint have been replaced. The water gets tested for lead, and it's clean. But Pastor Overton says the trauma has not gone away. The worst part of it all is that you trusted people that you thought you could trust. In the government, you mean? In the government. If you can't trust the government to tell you the truth about water, then we got some serious problems in America. And can that trust ever be rebuilt?

No. Consider this. The infrastructure bill making its way through Congress includes tens of billions of dollars for clean water. And the experience of Flint, Michigan provides a roadmap for cities across the country on what not to do. For NPR, I'm Ari Shapiro. It's Wednesday, September 22nd. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally, and always get the real-time, mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees.

Download the WISE app today, or visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply. It's Consider This from NPR. Earlier this year, at a House committee hearing on the infrastructure bill, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha testified remotely from Flint. I think you can appreciate that our pipes are like straws. You see that? They're just like drinking water straws. On the video screen, she held up the first lead pipe that was pulled out of the ground in the city. She's a pediatrician whose research revealed that kids in Flint were being poisoned. At this hearing, she told lawmakers that pipes like this one belong in the Smithsonian. I look forward to the museum exhibits and the history books showcasing that time when the leaders of our great nation, you guys, boldly took action to invest not only in our drinking water infrastructure, but also in the foundation of our nation's greatest and most valuable resource, our children.

Four months later, I asked Dr. Hannah Atisha how she feels about the infrastructure package that the Senate ultimately passed. The folks on the air can't see me, but I'm giddy. I am absolutely giddy when I heard about the inclusion of the removal of lead pipes. This is something that we should have done generations ago. We've known lead has been a poison literally for centuries, and we've really lacked the political will to do anything about it. We've kind of punted the ball. Lead poisoning is a very familiar phrase, but can you put some meat on those bones for us? What does lead actually do to kids? It actually lowers IQ levels. It impacts behavior, leads to developmental

problems, attention problems, focusing problems. And we also know that it's a form of environmental racism. Poor kids, black and brown kids, communities of color are disproportionately shouldering the burden of lead poisoning and other environmental contaminants. When Michigan first declared a state of emergency over Flint's water crisis in 2016, I met a woman there named Jenea McDonald. She and her husband were born and raised in Flint. And when I first met the family, their boys were two and six years old. I don't know any way to explain to a six-year-old why you can't take a bath anymore every day, why you can't help mommy wash the dishes anymore. So I told him, it's poison. And that way he'll know I'm serious.

Don't play with it. We've checked in with her regularly ever since. They look okay today. What are they going to look like in five years, in ten years? And at that point, where will all of these government officials and things be then when I'm dealing with the repercussions of that water? Now it's five years later, and her boys are eight and twelve. Her younger son has developmental delays, and she wonders whether it has anything to do with the water.

When I meet Jenea McDonald again outside her home in Flint, she wears a red t-shirt that says, Living My Best Life. It is so good to see you. I'm vaccinated. Can I give you a hug? Yes! There's a small above-ground pool on the lawn next to the house. She tells me she fills it up using the hose.

Okay, so a little more confidence in the water than maybe the last time? We don't have much choice. Of course. And I can't stop living. She still buys pallets of bottled water every week for cooking, drinking, and brushing teeth. She keeps them in a corner of her kitchen. I see you've got your stack of water bottles here, like five pallets. Oh, that's low.

That's low. Yep. I'll fill that up Sunday when I go to the store. She also has a filter on the tap. She checks the light to make sure it's low. Yeah. I'll fill that up Sunday when I go to the store. She also has a filter on the tap. She checks the light to make sure it's green. I try and keep a clear glass by the sink so I can fill it up to see. Put some paper behind it. I mean, who else is doing that?

Are you guys having to do that at home? I'm just thinking, like, the first time we came here, we spent a day with you. And a lot of that day was dealing with how are we going to get water? Like, you said you had joint pain from opening so many bottles. Yes. These days, what percentage of your time in a day is taken up with dealing with water? No, not really. I don't go and stand in any lines if people are donating water anymore.

It can't consume my life anymore. It's just part of my budget now. It's a significant part of her budget. She spends $50 a month on bottled water, another $100 a month on filters for the tap, and her monthly water bill from the city is almost $200 on top of that. Beyond the continuing financial cost, the pain she feels about what her government did to her family has not gone away either. It's not like we're talking about we watered our grass and it all turned brown. We're talking about our children drank this water and they're damaged. They're hurt for life. Yeah. I hear there's still a lot of anger there hurt i think is the anger has went away and the hurt has kicked in and the disappointment in the nation we live in i mean we're in america

everybody wants to come to america and how dare we treat our own people so badly how dare we treat our own people so badly? How dare we? And then shake our finger at other countries as if, you know, shame on them. No, shame on us. Shame on us for not being able to take care of home, at least. She sees what happened in Flint as part of a larger pattern of racial injustice. She says it's not a coincidence that this all took place in a city that is majority black. When are we going to look at the true issue that it is a race issue? That's something that has been talked about a lot in the infrastructure package,

helping disenfranchised communities, brown and black communities that often get left out. How hopeful are you that that part of it is going to follow through? Hopefully, someone will say and listen and hear that we can do better. And it's not hard at all. It's not hard at all. Just do the right thing. I think it'll be a game changer. Senator Jim Ananick is the minority leader in the Michigan State Senate, a Democrat, and he lives in Flint. He's been fighting to get justice for his city since the earliest days of this crisis, and he's thrilled that the rest of the country will now be getting money to replace lead pipes, even if experts say the amount in this package

is just a down payment on what it'll cost to finish the job. Everything went wrong here in Michigan and here in Flint. They did everything the wrong way you could do it. The motives were wrong, the way they handled it was wrong, the way they informed people was wrong. So I would say do the exact opposite of what happened here. What you're describing points to the fact that this is more than a health crisis, this is a trust in government crisis. Yes. So now you've got this infrastructure package where Congress in Washington is saying, we're going to come help you. How do you get citizens to trust the people in charge who are saying we're here to help you? We just take the money. You're saying don't try to repair trust in Congress.

No, don't do that. That is very pragmatic of you. Yeah, I can't be idealistic right now. I got to be just take the money, improve your communities, and we can fix trust in federal government later. The people in Flint may never trust their government again. But Jenea McDonald tells me she is still hopeful that the rest of the country can learn from what her city went through. It is long overdue. Long overdue. This country is old. Let's be real. It needs an overhaul. Yeah.

Inside and out. And it should not take for a whole city to get hurt for someone to say, hey, maybe we should start doing something about this. You're listening to Consider This from NPR. I'm Ari Shapiro. Support for NPR and the following message come from the Kauffman Foundation, providing access to opportunities that help people achieve financial stability, upward mobility, and economic prosperity, regardless of race, gender, or geography. Kauffman.org.