“Water must be an essential human right because it bears directly on the development of life of all beings on the planet and is a fundamental component in the mobilization of all productive processes.”
- Bolivian President, Evo Morales
Regardless of a lack of financial resources or advanced technology, developing countries like Bolivia have been fighting to provide free access to clean tap water for the majority of their people. While the reality in advanced industrial capitalist countries like the U.S., who enjoy sophisticated technology and huge financial resources, seems to be completely different. In the last decade, the United States has been experiencing a crisis of high prices and low quality of water in urban communities. The quality of water has been affected by the lack of technical support and government financing to maintain healthy and high quality conditions in water treatment plants and water pipe net systems. Many governments claim they lack the money for improving the quality of water services. Nonetheless, for many years now the majority of people have been forced by government, city administrations and municipalities to pay high prices for their low quality water. Furthermore hundreds of thousands of low income and poor people cannot afford the cost of water, which has resulted in huge debts to various government institutions. Those who paid the high price are no better off, since the water quality remained low and a lot of times not consumable.
Flint, Michigan is the most terrifying example of this situation. Flint is a clear example of how the capitalist system disregards the quality of life and health, especially that of working and poor people.
What Happened in Flint, Michigan?
The population of Flint is 100,000 people, including 9,000 children under the age of 6 years old. Flint is one of the poorest cities in the United States. Black people represent more than 50% of the city. Around 40% of people in Flint live below the poverty line due to a loss of jobs in the auto industry, namely from General Motors.
In April 2014, the mayor of Flint undemocratically decided to save money on water. They had been purchasing water from Lake Huron as well as the Detroit River, however the city decided to buy water from a cheaper source, mainly from Flint River.
The switch would have initially saved millions of dollars per year for the city of Flint, but the water from Flint River corroded the ageing pipes, increasing levels of lead (and other pollutants) in the tap water. This caused severe health problems for the people of Flint, especially its children.
Flint: Political and Technical Negligence
The Flint authorities changed the water source without any careful investigation and analysis about the chemical properties of the Flint River waters. This happened regardless of the fact that the drinking water administration and other experts knew that corrosion control is one of the most important aspects of the management of any drinking water system.
In addition they violated a federal law, which says that water systems with lead pipes must use an additive to seal the metal, which will prevent leaching into the water. Sean Kammer, assistant to the city administrator, explained that adding this anti-corrosive costs between $80 and $100 per day, and the city of Flint decided not to spend that money. Then, as mentioned, the Flint River water, which is slightly more acid than the Huron Lake water started to corrode the lead pipes in Flint. In the first month after the water switch, Flint citizens began reporting a big difference in water quality. They reported brown colored water, water that was more abrasive and they complained of nausea. However, the authorities didn't pay attention to the people's complaints. Sadly, the people of Flint continued to pay for this toxic water, and they even paid the highest rates in the US, around $150 a month.
The question everyone is asking is, how could the environmental health authorities not notice this big disaster? In theory, they play an important role in managing water, which includes inspection and control of drinking water systems. However, they just played against the people. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) carried out water testing in a tricky way in order to decrease the levels of lead, and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) statistically modified the results to keep the values under EPA standards and regulations.
When the governor’s office finally discovered the toxicity of the water, they decided to keep quiet about it and covered up the extent of the damage being done to Flint’s residents.
However, the reality was completely different for General Motors (GM) than it was for individual citizens. When GM accused the Flint River water of corroding their car parts, the Governor quickly spent $440,000 to reconnect General Motors to the Lake Huron water, while keeping the rest of Flint on the Flint River water. This fact clearly shows how to the capitalist system, the profits of big corporations such as General Motors are more important than the life and health of people. In Flint this especially impacted children, who had to drink lead-filled water daily.
On January 5, 2016 a state of emergency was finally declared, but until today it has not resulted in any serious measures to address health issues or a real solution for Flint’s drinking water problem.
The Effects of Flint’s Toxic Water
According to MLive Michigan News the water in 26 family homes in Flint were found to be contaminated with lead at a level of almost 10 times what is permitted (150 parts per billion (ppb), while the limit for drinking water is 15 ppb). According to the MLive article, the highest lead reading in a Flint home registered 4,000 ppb and that was documented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It is important to understand here that 5,000 ppb is considered toxic waste. Kerry Wheeler, a Flint mother with an 11 year old child declared to the media, “Nobody should have to be living like this.”
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha says, this disaster will have a “multigenerational impact.” The concentration of lead in the blood of the children is 2 and 3 times higher than before the switch. “In five years, these kids are going to have cognition problems. Seven to 10 years, they’re going to have behavioural problems.” An unknown number of older children and adults will also suffer lead damage. According to guidelines for drinking water, being exposed to lead can produce several health effects, such as neurodevelopmental defects, impaired renal function, hypertension, impaired fertility, mortality and adverse pregnancy outcomes. In addition, infants, children and pregnant women are very sensitive and more susceptible to lead exposure.
The number of cases in Flint of Legionnaires Disease has increased tenfold since the switch to the river water. 80 people have come down with it, and at least 10 have died. In the five years before using the river water, not a single person in Flint had died of Legionnaires Disease. Plumbing system problems, such as those in Flint, can cause water stagnation and provide a suitable environment for the proliferation of Legionella. Physicians have also discovered at least six different toxins in the blood of Flint’s citizens, which could cause additional health problems.
Governor Snyder gotta go! Capitalism gotta go!
The civil organizations are already fighting to provide clean water for Flint and they are asking to dismiss Governor Snyder. The poisoning of people in Flint was a consequence of the way capitalism works, where profit comes before the needs of people and we see a disregard for human life and Mother Nature. The poisoning of people in Flint, was not something inevitable, but was indeed entirely preventable. The case of the city of Flint is not the first time a community has been poisoned by capitalism’s disregard for human beings and the environment. In 2010, 400 children died in Nigeria from lead poisoning, a problem directly linked with gold mining.
The tragedy in Flint is not an isolated incident. Hundreds of disasters like Flint are happening around the world unknown and unreported to the public. The capitalist system’s disregard for nature and the environment is an ongoing trademark. The fact is that we will never completely able to stop the damage to the environment caused by the capitalist mode of production, which is toxic and destructive in its own nature. In order to save our planet from capitalist degradation we have no option but come together and end to this unjust, criminal and toxic system.
What happened in Flint could happen anywhere that a city or municipal government is in financial trouble and hoping to save a few dollars. We must stand with the people of Flint in their demands for justice and clean water. We are ALL Flint!
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