Dirty water, increased lead levels and an overall nightmare have become the new normal for people living in the Flint community because of the water crisis that began in 2014. A switch to using water from the Flint River instead of Lake Huron in an attempt to save money for the city led to increased lead levels in the water, a violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act and a declaration of a state of emergency.

“I live in downtown Flint near Mott College area,” drama director Lori Thompson said. “We have had the National Guard come to our house twice delivering water, water filters and water filter test kits. We also receive free water packages daily from the fire department.”

With 87 cases of bacteria sickness because of the water and an increase in lead poisoning, Thompson and others in Flint are taking precautions when dealing with their water.

“We test our water using the test kit and the results indicate that the amount of lead found in our water is minimal at this point,” Thompson said. “However, we are required to continue to test it. We have water filters on all of our sinks, but we still do not drink from the faucets because the filters cannot be guaranteed to abstract all lead levels. Also, I only cook with bottled water. With that being said, we can go through large amounts of water pretty quickly.”

Because this crisis has been ongoing for more than a year and a half, Thompson expressed her frustration and admitted she feels the crisis could have been avoided if addressed earlier on.

“I am most frustrated with the fact that we are still required to pay our water bill which is a total of $140 or more. Paying for water when we can’t cook or drink with it is ridiculous. We have been told that danger of lead through the skin in regards to showering is not dangerous however there have been a lot of contradictions. It could have all been avoided if better decision making had been executed by our governor two years ago.”