By Valeria Bula

Over two years have passed since the beginning of the Flint water crisis, where the drinking water of Flint, Michigan underwent lead contamination due to government negligence. Though much of the media coverage on the city has ended, it has remained a problem in the city to this day, leaving thousands of people without clean drinking water and exposed to contamination.

The city’s main source of water changed from Lake Huron to the Flint River back in 2014 despite the river being historically known to contain fecal bacteria and toxic substances as well as lead from old pipelines, all of which began seeping into Flint’s main water supply.

It was also found that the State Department of Environmental Quality had not been treating the water in the Flint River with an anti-corrosive agent which is in violation of federal law— the lack of treatment caused the lead contamination as there was nothing to prevent the wearing away of metals.

The effects of ingesting lead are considerable: health threats posed by high lead levels in blood are especially detrimental to children and pregnant women. According to the World Health Organization, long term effects include delayed puberty, impaired cognition, and hearing problems in children as well as heart, kidney, and nerve threats to all ages.

Back in January, President Obama declared Flint to be in a state of emergency, however, the issue continues to progress. In April, researchers claimed the water was still unsafe to consume without a filter.

“Nothing’s changed except the attention has died off,” says one Flint resident.

Residents have lost trust in the city’s water and in city officials; though the source of water was changed back to Detroit, only one percent of lead service lines were replaced, meaning that the water was still contaminated with lead. The percentage of kids with high lead levels present in their blood has decreased, however, lead detection in blood is temporary while the effects of lead poisoning are long term.

Thus far, nine state and local officials have received criminal charges in relation to the Flint water crisis.

Beyond Flint, similar water crisis are found across the nation. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, only nine states report having safe levels of lead in their water supply. They also report that in the last three years, 41 states have reported higher than acceptable levels of lead in drinking water.

In places such as Newark, New Jersey, for example, the president of the Newark Teachers Union said that Newark public schools are a “mini Flint” with tests revealing that over 30 schools in the city have lead-contaminated water.

With industrial growth and increasing urbanization, aging infrastructure (e.g. pipes dating back to the 1800’s) are long past their expiration date.

Experts say that attention and funds should be drawn towards the infrastructure that delivers water, rather than the quality of the water itself. The situation in Flint serves as a preview to what may come to other U.S cities if water infrastructure is not improved.