:00:00. > :00:00.As long as the price of cakes do not care what, we will be all right. --
:00:00. > :00:00.go up. Residents of the small
:00:00. > :00:10.American city of Flint, Michigan are living
:00:11. > :00:11.in an ongoing Their water supply has
:00:12. > :00:20.been contaminated. You shouldn't be afraid
:00:21. > :00:25.of your tap water. With the crisis in its third year,
:00:26. > :00:28.tens of thousands of people can't drink their tap water,
:00:29. > :00:31.and many don't dare cook Many people think that the Flint
:00:32. > :00:39.story is over, that it's We are still very much
:00:40. > :00:44.in the middle of this crisis. There's been widespread lead
:00:45. > :00:46.contamination, and concerns about disinfection chemicals and
:00:47. > :00:52.bacterial illnesses in the water. We are still having issues
:00:53. > :00:54.with rashes, we are still There's disbelief that this
:00:55. > :01:04.could happen in America. Flint has become a byword
:01:05. > :01:09.for national shame. I'm going to make sure that leaders
:01:10. > :01:13.at every level of government don't rest until every drop of water
:01:14. > :01:16.that flows to your homes The city remains under
:01:17. > :01:23.a state of emergency, and there's no end in sight
:01:24. > :01:36.to this crisis. Flint, Michigan is home
:01:37. > :01:41.to 100,000 people. After 30 years of economic decline,
:01:42. > :01:47.more than a third live in poverty. One in six houses
:01:48. > :01:52.have been abandoned, and there's not even a full-service
:01:53. > :01:55.grocery store here. Now they're dealing
:01:56. > :02:06.with poisoned water. Testing for lead, one of the toxins,
:02:07. > :02:13.has become a regular part of life We turn it on cold, we fill it up
:02:14. > :02:22.to half an inch from the top... So far we know that there
:02:23. > :02:29.is a certain amount We know that there is or at one time
:02:30. > :02:35.there was high concentrations We know that our house has
:02:36. > :02:40.exceptionally high levels of chlorine, but there's always
:02:41. > :02:43.the doubt in my mind Scientists from Virginia Tech tested
:02:44. > :02:49.homes and discovered dangerously high lead levels in
:02:50. > :02:54.the summer of 2015. By last October, the people of Flint
:02:55. > :02:57.were finally warned by Michigan health officials to stop drinking
:02:58. > :03:03.water from their taps. They had already been
:03:04. > :03:05.consuming contaminated water Now this is what Mari and Lulu,
:03:06. > :03:13.and all of Flint's residents, Every ward has a water POD now,
:03:14. > :03:22.which is short for a point of distribution site,
:03:23. > :03:24.where you can go for water and supplies and filter
:03:25. > :03:32.replacements and such. It only takes a few minutes
:03:33. > :03:35.for Lulu and Mari to drive But this unwelcome routine
:03:36. > :03:59.is getting old. We've been in a state
:04:00. > :04:12.of emergency since January. It's already enough that you have
:04:13. > :04:24.to use gas to go get it. So why is the water
:04:25. > :04:38.in Flint so unsafe? In April 2014, the state government
:04:39. > :04:41.switched the water supply from Lake Huron to the highly toxic
:04:42. > :04:49.Flint River. The move was meant to save money,
:04:50. > :04:53.but the Flint River water was allowed to run
:04:54. > :04:55.through the system untreated, There was a whole issue around
:04:56. > :05:04.chemistry and corrosion And so as that switch
:05:05. > :05:10.was made and as the water chemistry was not correct,
:05:11. > :05:14.it then caused some lead to leach out of service lines
:05:15. > :05:16.and fixtures in Flint, Residents were forced to stay
:05:17. > :05:22.on the contaminated water until October last year,
:05:23. > :05:24.when officials finally switched We still cannot drink water
:05:25. > :05:37.that is from our taps. It is still contaminated with lead,
:05:38. > :05:40.and that is because the 18 months that we were on the Flint River
:05:41. > :05:43.water, the untreated water, it significantly damaged
:05:44. > :05:45.our infrastructure. So you can think of it
:05:46. > :05:48.as drinking through Chips of lead scale
:05:49. > :05:53.from our pipes continued to come off into the drinking
:05:54. > :06:01.water and into our tap. The Department of Environmental
:06:02. > :06:03.Quality, and other government agencies, initially
:06:04. > :06:07.denied there was a problem. They are now working
:06:08. > :06:08.with scientists from Virginia Tech, who helped
:06:09. > :06:16.uncover this crisis. There is really a comprehensive
:06:17. > :06:21.response in Flint, and I think the last time I checked we've taken
:06:22. > :06:24.over 38,000 samples in Flint, which I'll say is probably the most
:06:25. > :06:27.tested water system at least CHANTING: What do we want?
:06:28. > :06:33.Clean water! When do we want it?
:06:34. > :06:35.Now! But that's little comfort
:06:36. > :06:37.to a community that doesn't know when they'll have clean
:06:38. > :06:41.drinking water again. For a year and a half residents
:06:42. > :06:47.were told water like this was safe, even though it looked,
:06:48. > :06:54.smelled and tasted bad. According to the Michigan
:06:55. > :06:56.Attorney General, state employees tried to cover up warning
:06:57. > :07:01.signs of lead poisoning. When you're talking about
:07:02. > :07:04.government, the trust was broken, and that is something that's really
:07:05. > :07:07.difficult and hard to repair. We have kids now that
:07:08. > :07:10.are suffering the consequences of ingesting contaminated water,
:07:11. > :07:12.or pregnant women that It was a local paediatrician
:07:13. > :07:24.who brought the crisis to public attention,
:07:25. > :07:26.by analysing blood data from Flint So our research showed that
:07:27. > :07:32.in the city of Flint, which is divided into nine wards,
:07:33. > :07:35.the percentage of kids with elevated lead levels doubled
:07:36. > :07:38.after the water switch. And in some neighbourhoods,
:07:39. > :07:41.it was even higher - This is something that we may have
:07:42. > :07:50.to deal with for decades, There is research on
:07:51. > :07:53.the epigenetic impacts of lead, where environment
:07:54. > :07:55.affects your genetics. Mothers exposed to lead -
:07:56. > :07:58.you can see the DNA changes Lead poisoning shows no symptoms,
:07:59. > :08:04.but it results in IQ loss, behavioural problems and learning
:08:05. > :08:09.disabilities in children. It can harm every organ
:08:10. > :08:11.in the body, especially And there is another worry that has
:08:12. > :08:20.deadly consequences. The Flint water crisis
:08:21. > :08:24.is much more than that. Legionella - we had the largest
:08:25. > :08:26.outbreak of legionnaires' disease in the country
:08:27. > :08:29.during this water crisis, and 12 people died because of that,
:08:30. > :08:32.and that could have been Legionnaires' is still
:08:33. > :08:42.a major concern. Now there's been a significant
:08:43. > :08:45.increase in shigellosis, and intestinal disease that causes
:08:46. > :08:49.diarrhoea and vomiting. Generally blamed on poor hygiene
:08:50. > :08:52.habits, it can also be transmitted through
:08:53. > :09:01.contaminated drinking water. And the kale is on the bottom,
:09:02. > :09:05.and then do you want me to put Making a meal isn't
:09:06. > :09:11.the routine it used to be Now, it involves bottled
:09:12. > :09:19.water - lots of it. The water may have been switched
:09:20. > :09:24.back, but this is what According to Melissa,
:09:25. > :09:32.the family was otherwise healthy Since then, the Mays have all
:09:33. > :09:41.suffered from rashes, and much more. At first it was the hair loss
:09:42. > :09:44.and muscle pain and bone pain. Also, my neurologist believes that
:09:45. > :09:47.I have a lot of copper stored in my brain and that's what's
:09:48. > :09:50.causing the seizures Our youngest, Cole,
:09:51. > :09:54.his white blood cell count hovers around four,
:09:55. > :09:57.so he has little And Christian, our middle child,
:09:58. > :10:04.has so much pain he has And they have physical therapy three
:10:05. > :10:09.times a week because blood can be seen and stored in your growth
:10:10. > :10:12.plates, so when Christian header four-inch growth spurt,
:10:13. > :10:16.his body didn't stretch with him. His bones grew, but his muscles
:10:17. > :10:21.and his joints did not. Remember, you're going
:10:22. > :10:24.to cross one ankle over the other, and then that's right -
:10:25. > :10:27.push up with your bottom leg. Me and my friends make
:10:28. > :10:33.Flint water jokes, like, what would be the most dangerous
:10:34. > :10:36.weapon for a cop to have? So we kept on making those jokes,
:10:37. > :10:42.then we realised how OK, Christian, arms straight back
:10:43. > :10:47.on the floor, palms up. It's actually gotten
:10:48. > :10:51.worse over time, because the stuff's still there -
:10:52. > :10:54.the lead and copper, and all the other bad
:10:55. > :10:57.chemicals which I can't name since there are so many,
:10:58. > :11:01.are still there. The Mays try to limit exposure
:11:02. > :11:04.as much as possible. They want to avoid absorbing
:11:05. > :11:07.toxins through the skin, We've got chloroform coming
:11:08. > :11:14.through in our shower, which is what causes
:11:15. > :11:20.headaches and dizziness. It can cause cancer,
:11:21. > :11:22.cause gastrointestinal distress, which my husband deals
:11:23. > :11:25.with on a constant basis. So they test their water
:11:26. > :11:27.regularly, with both the government and independent
:11:28. > :11:31.organisations. You shouldn't be afraid
:11:32. > :11:35.of your tap water. There's a lot of
:11:36. > :11:39.people afraid of it. Soon they'll have the results
:11:40. > :11:42.of the latest sample back from the Department of Environmental
:11:43. > :11:47.Quality. The Mays family are part of a class
:11:48. > :11:51.action suit along with others who say they've displayed a range
:11:52. > :11:55.of serious conditions, but some of the most common
:11:56. > :12:00.complaints seen around the city are hair loss and skin
:12:01. > :12:02.problems, and recorded cases I know there's been increased people
:12:03. > :12:10.with rashes, there's I don't have a water test - we don't
:12:11. > :12:16.have a water test that shows The dermatologists have not found
:12:17. > :12:27.any basis of infection in the water. These rashes do not look
:12:28. > :12:29.like they were caused The whole city has been
:12:30. > :12:38.traumatised by this crisis. Mari's weekly tumbling
:12:39. > :12:54.class allows some relief Many of these families
:12:55. > :12:57.were also exposed to lead in the water supply,
:12:58. > :13:00.and they feel abandoned. They did it in other states,
:13:01. > :13:05.they can do it here in Flint. That is the impression that I get,
:13:06. > :13:12.that Flint people don't count. They tell us that it's OK
:13:13. > :13:20.to bathe in it - it's not. And people are fed up really,
:13:21. > :13:25.because of all the lies that we were told to us
:13:26. > :13:30.about the water situation, and we just try
:13:31. > :13:33.to deal with it the best we can. We just kind of bind
:13:34. > :13:36.together as a community Push, push, push...
:13:37. > :13:39.Yes, up! Sheila Miller-Graham
:13:40. > :13:41.runs the dance studio. She lives in the water zone,
:13:42. > :13:45.and is a lifelong Flint resident. I have great hopes that things
:13:46. > :13:48.are going to improve. I'm a believer in Flint,
:13:49. > :13:51.you know, I'm a Flintstone. I'm a die-hard with that strong
:13:52. > :14:00.rock, and so that whole saying, what don't kill you makes
:14:01. > :14:03.you stronger - we're We don't want to be the guinea pigs
:14:04. > :14:07.for the rest of our lives, but we definitely want something
:14:08. > :14:11.done and we want it done now. Mari is known around town
:14:12. > :14:18.as Little Miss Flint. Worried about what the
:14:19. > :14:20.community was going through, she wrote to
:14:21. > :14:24.President Obama to appeal for help. Mr President, hello,
:14:25. > :14:26.my name is Mari Copeny. I am one of the children
:14:27. > :14:33.that is affected by this water, and I have been doing my best
:14:34. > :14:37.to march and protest and speak out for all the kids
:14:38. > :14:44.that hear live in Flint. In May, the president came to Flint
:14:45. > :14:47.to meet Mari. Good to see you, sweetie,
:14:48. > :14:51.how are you doing? I know!
:14:52. > :15:00.That's why I decided to come. And I'm going to talk
:15:01. > :15:02.about you in my speech, Like a lot of you,
:15:03. > :15:08.Mari's been worried about She's worried about what it means
:15:09. > :15:17.for children like her. She's worried about the future
:15:18. > :15:21.of this city and this community. I will not rest, and I'm
:15:22. > :15:26.going to make sure that the leaders at every level of government don't
:15:27. > :15:32.rest, until every drop of water that flows to your homes is safe
:15:33. > :15:35.to drink and safe to cook with and safe to bathe in,
:15:36. > :15:38.because that's part of the basic responsibilities of a government
:15:39. > :15:46.in the United States of America. But little has changed
:15:47. > :15:48.since the President's visit. If anything, the permanence of this
:15:49. > :15:55.situation has set in. This is Flint's water distribution
:15:56. > :16:06.warehouse. There is 1.3 million litres
:16:07. > :16:11.here at any one time. That's about nine days' worth
:16:12. > :16:16.of water for the community. It gets constantly replenished
:16:17. > :16:21.as cases are shipped out to what they call PODs,
:16:22. > :16:28.or points of distribution. But the only full-scale solution
:16:29. > :16:31.to get people off bottled water Today we find the mayor
:16:32. > :16:44.doing an unexpected spot check on her Fast Start
:16:45. > :16:50.pipe replacement programme. I just have to keep going back to,
:16:51. > :16:54."We need new pipes." That's the only thing that's
:16:55. > :16:57.going to ease the minds of the people and let them trust
:16:58. > :17:00.that it's safe again. These workmen are replacing
:17:01. > :17:06.the city's service lines. Those are the pipes that run
:17:07. > :17:12.from the roads to the houses. And there's a lot of lead,
:17:13. > :17:15.but so far Fast Start has been I live here, I have bad water,
:17:16. > :17:22.so I'm a frustrated person as well. To date, only 218 service
:17:23. > :17:26.lines have been replaced. There are more than 15,000
:17:27. > :17:30.in the city needing to be done, and that doesn't even include
:17:31. > :17:34.all the other pipes in the system. She blames the Republican-controlled
:17:35. > :17:43.Congress for the delay. They're holding it up,
:17:44. > :17:45.and that needs to get passed. We didn't do anything to deserve
:17:46. > :17:50.to be in this situation. But we certainly deserve the money
:17:51. > :17:54.to be able to fix it, because you have a community of
:17:55. > :17:58.people that still can't just turn on their water faucet
:17:59. > :18:00.and drink the water. And as the lines are pulled out
:18:01. > :18:04.of the ground and replaced, more lead is dislodged,
:18:05. > :18:06.causing spikes in the system, which is one of the many reasons
:18:07. > :18:16.the DEQ urges people to use filters. You need to make sure that, A,
:18:17. > :18:20.you take care of the lead issue, B, you take care of
:18:21. > :18:22.the chlorine by-products, C, you maintain chlorine
:18:23. > :18:25.residuals so you don't You need to make sure people
:18:26. > :18:28.are using filters as you're So it's OK to bathe and cook
:18:29. > :18:33.with the water if it's filtered? If you lived here, and you had
:18:34. > :18:38.children, would you allow them Yes, I would, if my kids
:18:39. > :18:43.and grandkids were here - Relative to cooking,
:18:44. > :18:48.that'd be OK, and once again Melissa and Adam Mays are not
:18:49. > :19:02.so convinced, and they won't risk their family's health, especially
:19:03. > :19:04.after the latest government test results, found hanging
:19:05. > :19:17.on their front door. Federal standards say lead
:19:18. > :19:19.should not exceed 15 ppb. It says, "Sorry we missed you,
:19:20. > :19:22.but you've tested high for lead or copper," and, sure enough,
:19:23. > :19:25.we have 160 ppb of lead. That's not OK when zero is the only
:19:26. > :19:31.safe level for my kids. So we're never going
:19:32. > :19:33.to trust the filters, because who knows what we have
:19:34. > :19:36.coming in from the city? And what is 160 ppb today may be
:19:37. > :19:39.double that tomorrow. The Mays took their sample
:19:40. > :19:42.from the water meter Which means the lead is coming
:19:43. > :19:45.from the city supply, I just stood on my front porch and I
:19:46. > :19:59.was like, "All right, then. Great - we are going
:20:00. > :20:02.in the wrong direction still." And science is screaming this,
:20:03. > :20:05.and yet these same people who put these results on my door sat
:20:06. > :20:08.in a classroom about two weeks ago telling us that the water
:20:09. > :20:12.is the best it's been in 30 years, and that everybody should
:20:13. > :20:14.trust the filters. Despite residents' fears,
:20:15. > :20:16.state officials are confident We've been testing since January,
:20:17. > :20:29.but the water is even better now than it was in January in terms
:20:30. > :20:32.of lead, copper, pH, The disinfectant by-products
:20:33. > :20:39.are the same as they would be in any other city in the United States,
:20:40. > :20:42.if not any country that uses chlorine or any system
:20:43. > :20:44.that uses chlorine. Because of this crisis,
:20:45. > :20:48.Melissa has transformed into a vocal activist and is often
:20:49. > :20:51.at the forefront of protests. CHANTING: Justice for Flint,
:20:52. > :20:53.arrest Rick Snyder! Residents are demanding answers
:20:54. > :20:58.from Governor Rick Snyder. He appointed the emergency manager
:20:59. > :21:01.who made the decision to switch We want to know who knew what,
:21:02. > :21:07.and when they knew it, and have people held accountable
:21:08. > :21:09.at all different levels. Lulu and Mari live on the other side
:21:10. > :21:18.of town from the Mays. They are still waiting
:21:19. > :21:21.for their latest test results from the Department of
:21:22. > :21:26.Environmental Quality. For now, Mari and the rest
:21:27. > :21:30.of the family are playing it safe. They'll continue to use only bottled
:21:31. > :21:37.water for as long as it takes. What was initially done to save $5
:21:38. > :21:42.million could, by some estimates, end up costing over a billion,
:21:43. > :21:49.and take at least a decade to fix. Every agency that was supposed
:21:50. > :21:59.to protect them failed. And they very much want to know why,
:22:00. > :22:03.and how this could have happened, So you can almost think of it like
:22:04. > :22:13.a truth and reconciliation process. And it will be a fair bit of time
:22:14. > :22:20.before we get that back with residents of Flint,
:22:21. > :23:09.Michigan. It's going to be a quiet
:23:10. > :23:14.weekend of weather.