In 2010, I attended community meetings where there were conversations regarding a new Karegnondi Water Authority regional water system that would offer fresh water and save money for residents in Flint and Genesee County in Michigan. I had heard conversations about using the Flint River as a source of drinking water. During the restructuring, however, the history of this river would make it impossible to be considered for domestic use. At least this is what I thought until April 25, 2014, when “the switch” to using water from the Flint River started a public health crisis that I could not believe.
In 2014, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance’s Associate for Story Ministry, David Barnhart, met Lisa Horne, Director of Community Ministry at First Presbyterian Church of Flint, working on what would become the award-winning documentary, “Flint: The Poisoning of an American City.”
There is a point in “Flint: The Poisoning of an American City” where we have seen and heard how the Michigan city’s water system was contaminated with lead and the many ways in which public officials caused or allowed the tragedy to happen, and it’s easy to ask, “How has nobody gone to jail for this?”