Читать книгу Standpipe - David Hardin - Страница 23

FIFTEEN

Over the weeks and months, I encounter more than a few people who have had their water cut off for not paying their monthly water bill. People who have no choice but to go on living in their home. I’m curious to know how they manage, maintain some minimum level of hygiene, let alone sanity, but dare not ask the question. Flint and Genessee County had some of the highest water rates in the state prior to the water crises. High rates levied by the Detroit system, coupled with an unfinished pipeline project from Lake Huron connecting to a new regional water treatment facility, contributed to the decision to draw water from the Flint River in the first place.

Everyone I speak with complains bitterly of the devil’s bargain they’ve been handed—forced to pay high water and sewage rates in exchange for an essential service that dooms their children to a life sentence of brain damage, exposes everyone in the house to potentially fatal illness, and destroys the hard-won value of everything they have worked and sacrificed to achieve. Most pay, though they can ill afford the burden. Money for lead-tainted water means less money for things like food, rent, and prescription drugs. Never mind transportation, clothing, and cable. Medical care? Forget it. Various programs exist to help those in need. The governor pressures GM to reconnect with the municipal system, in order to bolster tax revenue. Revenues do, in fact, increase, but are woefully insufficient to pay the cost of replacing pipes system wide. The pipeline from Lake Huron is eventually completed, but Flint won’t be granted representation on the Great Lakes Water Authority Board until 2019 .

Throughout the crisis, many continue to use water from the tap, run through commercial filters we hand out for free. Absolutely no one I speak with believes the free faucet filters are safe and effective. Boiling is a common, but ineffective practice, as are brief showers or sponge baths that limit exposure to toxins. Pets are at risk. Basic functions like brushing teeth, cleaning wounds, washing hair, doing laundry, washing dishes, keeping babies fresh, take on new, upsettingly onerous dimensions. Food preparation, of course, has been transformed into a tedious, time-consuming exercise in opening and emptying dozens of plastic bottles. Now and then we stop for coffee. I half convince myself that McDonald’s is scrupulous in their water filtration regimen. I’m amazed, as the long, hot summer progresses, that Flint’s residents don’t resort to acts of civil disobedience or defiantly take to the streets to express their frustration and rage at their predicament. Attempts at mollification by the authorities, at this point, seem such an affront to dignity as to be morally indefensible.