Approximately two years ago, the city of Flint, Michigan’s water supply was switched from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Why should you care about a random town in Michigan? Isn’t Flint the name of that scientist in “Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs?” Is Michigan that state that looks like the mitten, or is that Wisconsin…? Even if you have never heard of the city of Flint, Michigan, it has become a household name in this past week due to a toxic water crisis that spread throughout the city. Leading up to the crisis was a numerous amount of safety prevention measures that were completely neglected. For example, researchers from Virginia Tech found that the water in Flint was highly corrosive, yet, allegedly, the state Department of Environmental Quality did not treat the water. Flint’s toxic water problem began snowballing downhill since the day the city’s water supply was switched from Lake Huron to the Flint River. It was only a matter of time until the water reached the toxic state that it is currently.
Remember when we had the boil order for our water at Augustana back during fall term? I remember I was scared to shower in case I’d get some sort of weird, radioactive skin disease. Overall, I think the boil order was handled well. Email updates were helpful in informing the community on the status of the boil order. I think it was interesting for our entire Augustana community to experience a situation such as this. This simple boil order taught me a few things. First of all, email notifications saved me from this toxic water. I hadn’t left my room that day yet, so I didn’t see the water fountain coverings. I was about to take a shower and right before I received the email notification about the boil order. Email notifications are a major key. Secondly, you really don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone. I didn’t realize how much I actually used water until I wasn’t able to use it. And third, American’s feel very entitled to clean drinking water (even if it’s water that we use to clean off our dirty bodies with…). The Augustana campus boil order only took place for about two or three days, yet the entire campus seemed to have been panic-stricken and felt like the Rock Island water line had failed them in some way.
While Augustana’s water is safe to drink now, that’s just it; we were able to get our water back to normal in a matter of a few cranks of a water pipe (okay, obviously it’s a little more complicated than that, but you get the idea). Think about the multitude of foreign countries that struggle every day with access to clean drinking water. Many people of small villages in Africa have to travel miles to find a well with clean drinking water, and here I am complaining when I have to walk down the hallway to fill up my water bottle at the drinking fountain. While I am here to direct your attention to the Flint, Michigan water crisis, and by no means intend to discount the people of Flint’s current hardship, it is important to put this matter in perspective. Many people are outraged against Flint’s local government and their blatant negligence, but we cannot be outraged at the Flint water crisis without being outraged at the rest of the world’s struggle with accessibility to clean drinking water.