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Flint Residents Have to Pay for Water That Is Still Not Clean

Flint residents are being burned yet again by the state government. Even though Flint’s water is still not safe enough to drink without a filter, residents had to resume paying for the contaminated water since March 1. Unsurprisingly, this has sparked much outrage from the community that is still negatively affected by the crisis.

The Flint Water Crisis arose in 2014 after it was discovered that the water being distributed to Flint residents contained high levels of lead. In order to save the state money, Flint’s water source was switched from Lake Huron to the Flint River. The Flint River is historically known for containing poor quality water. Even so, the government decided against treating the water with an anti-corrosive agent, breaking federal law. This resulted in very contaminated water, both from bacteria and lead coming from corroded service lines, being consumed by Flint residents. Many people, especially children, and pregnant women had to be treated for lead poisoning.

With this horrific treatment of Flint residents, paying the bills for the contaminated water was the least that the state could do. Residents had to rely on the use of bottled water for multiple years while the water supply was being decontaminated. They could not cook, shower, brush their teeth, or wash their face without having an extensive collection of bottled water. It only made sense that residents should not have to pay for the water that they could not use.

According to NPR, the governor’s office notified the city that the water relief credits would be ending. Previously, the state paid two-thirds of Flint’s water bills, spending over 40 million dollars for the course of a year. Without these subsidies, residents have to fully pay for their water bills. The water has recently tested within safe federal levels, prompting the subsidy ending. However, residents are still advised to use a filter as a precaution.

Because of this, many are arguing that the subsidies should continue until the water is tap drinkable. This is not an unreasonable request. Considering the lack of transparency that the Michigan government has been guilty of in regards to the contaminated water, residents deserve prolonged subsidies for their multiple years of exposure to the lead-contaminated water. Permanent damage has been done to many residents, especially children, and pregnant women, so the abrupt ending of subsidies lasting only a fraction of the time that Flint was being poisoned is just another slap in the face to residents.

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