Thursday, April 25 marks the 10-year anniversary of the Flint, Michigan water crisis, one of the most devastating drinking water catastrophes in recent U.S. history. On April 25, 2014, under the directive of the emergency financial manager imposed by then-Governor Rick Syndor, Flint’s water supply was switched from nearby Detroit’s water system to the Flint River. As a result, improperly treated river water corroded aging pipes, releasing toxic lead into the drinking water. Thousands of Flint families suffered grave health effects, the impacts of which will be playing out for decades to come. Food & Water Watch research at the time found that Flint residents were paying the highest water rates in the country — for water that was poisoning them. 

10 years later, even after subsequent drinking water crises in places including Jackson, Mississippi, and Prichard, Alabama, the federal government has failed to address the nation’s systemic water safety and affordability crisis, which disparately threatens Black and Brown communities that have suffered decades of resource and wealth extraction. In 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provided about $50 billion over five years for drinking water and wastewater system improvements. Yet this is a fraction of the overall investment needed to adequately address the crisis. 

A comprehensive funding solution is the Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity and Reliability (WATER) Act, which would dedicate at least $35 billion annually to sufficiently update aging water systems and replace all hazardous lead piping throughout the country. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and currently has more than 100 cosponsors in the House and Senate. 

In response, Mary Grant, water policy director at Food & Water Watch issued the following statement: 

“Flint still awaits water justice, and justice delayed is justice denied. The Flint water crisis brought the country’s systemic water problems to the national consciousness, but it offered a warning not just about aging water infrastructure and lead pipes. It also stands as condemnation of emergency financial management and the loss of local democratic control of water. Flint’s financial managers raised water prices to the highest in the country and sacrificed Flint residents in the name of supposed cost cutting. As the ten-year anniversary approaches, Governor Whitmer and the Michigan state legislature must repeal the racist emergency manager law.  

“In the decade since Flint’s devastating water crisis began, the federal government has also done too little to address the crumbling state of our water infrastructure from decades of austerity and the corresponding health and safety threats posed to countless communities across the country. We must mark this solemn anniversary by increasing the pressure on Congress to pass legislation that properly funds safe drinking water for every person in the country – now and in the future – once and for all. The WATER Act is that solution.”