Flint's broken trust

More than two years after issues first surfaced with Flint's drinking water, many residents have no plans to switch from the bottled water upon which they've come to depend for their daily needs and say they don't trust filters.

Bobbie Nicks sat on her front porch watching her children and other kids from the neighborhood splash in the aboveground pool next to her Flint home.

The 35-year-old mother of four worries about the tap water used to fill it, but she doesn’t want to deprive her children of fun in their pool this summer because of the ongoing Flint water crisis that has caused lead-poisoned water to flow from faucets.

“We have to find a good balance of letting kids be kids and not dealing with what we have to deal with as parents — of being scared of the water,” Nicks said.

She moved to Flint, a city of about 98,000 residents, with her husband and children in April 2015 to be closer to friends and family and now lives with cases of bottled water stacked eight high outside her home. Her family relies on that water to drink, cook and brush their teeth, despite having filters installed in their house that government officials say makes water safe from lead when properly used.

More than two years after issues first surfaced with Flint's drinking water, many residents have no plans to switch from the bottled water upon which they've come to depend for their daily needs and say they don't trust filters. They point out they've been lied to before and told that the lead-contaminated water was safe to drink, so now they don't believe what government officials tell them. Without knowing how much longer they'll have to live with the water crisis, many are considering moving. Some already have packed up and left.

For those who remain, relying on bottled water is taking a toll physically and psychologically. Water runs are inconvenient, using bottled water daily is a hassle and people, many of whom don't see an end in sight, are frustrated and angry.

“We’re going to be on bottled water until we hear different, but even then we might not trust it," Nicks said. "These are our children we got to worry about."

(left to right) Bobbie Nicks, 35, of Flint, fixes her son Jayden Nicks, 6, shirt while sitting on the front porch of her home in Flint's east side with Aneissa Dolak, 18, her son Andre Nicks Jr., her husband Andre Nicks, 43, their daughter Sophia Nicks, 2, and Kaydence Heit, 11, all of Flint on Thursday June 30, 2016. (Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)

Members of the community first complained of the water's smell, color and taste after the city switched its supply source from Lake Huron to the Flint River while under control of a state-appointed emergency manager in April 2014. Corrosion-control chemicals weren't added as part of the water treatment process, which caused lead to leach from pipes, joints and fixtures and poison the city's drinking water.

The city's water source was switched back in October but concerns remain because of damage to the water infrastructure.

Nicks said if the problem with the water isn’t fixed, she’ll leave the city — and she's not alone.

“We’re thinking about moving next February,” Nicks said. “We can’t afford it until then."

'We deserve a better environment'

Mark Masters, a landlord with TDM Realtors in Flint, has lost tenants over the water situation, but he said many people are stuck in the city — where 40% of people live in poverty — because they don't have the money to leave.

“It’s kind of like a Bermuda Triangle here,” Masters said. “You can get in, but you can’t get out.”

Masters said his company owns more than 200 properties and manages close to 200 others. Most are in Flint, where a two-bedroom unit rents for about $300-$450 a month.

People interested in renting from him used to call and ask questions about the neighborhood. Now, he said, a common question is: Does the unit have Flint's drinking water?

The water crisis is the latest in a host of other issues endured by people in the city over the years. Flint residents have faced high crime rates, declining property values, closed schools and stores and bills so high couples like the Andre Jackson and his wife, Ursena Jackson, feel they can’t live a middle-class lifestyle, even though they both work full time.

The Jacksons said their home — bought in 1996 for $25,000 — is now worth $8,000, and they pay about $600 a month for home and car insurance on top of water bills over $100.

They started discussing whether to move from Flint or stick it out earlier this year.  Initially he wanted to stay, but she wanted to go.

“I can’t keep doing this,” 50-year-old Ursena Jackson said. “I just can’t continue living like this.”

Andre Jackson, a 58-year-old third generation General Motors employee, had reservations about moving and starting over again a few months ago but said last week that he's starting to change his mind.

The water situation is one factor, but the biggest reason, he said, is crime. In March, authorities responded to a home on fire directly across the street from the Jacksons' house then discovered a 28-year-old man shot to death inside.  No charges have been issued in the homicide and a vacant, burned house now sits in the 1500 block of Prospect.

Andre Jackson, of Flint, stands outside of a house where a body was found that burned down where a man was shot and killed across the street from his home in Flint earlier this year on Friday July 1, 2016, (Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)

Gunfire remains a consistent sound in his neighborhood, and Flint police said the city had 48 criminal homicides last year.

“We deserve a better environment,” Andre Jackson said, adding that the water crisis is the last straw.

Some are done with Flint

The way of life in Flint already has driven some out of the city. Sincere Smith, the boy whose picture appeared on the cover of Time magazine in January, making him an instant face of the water crisis, moved with his family to nearby Swartz Creek earlier this year.

"They got to fix that water," his mother Ariana Hawk said in April. "That's the reason for me moving. I would have stayed. ... I just couldn't put my kids through it."

She now worries whether her children will suffer because of their previous exposure to lead in the water. Doctors say lead poisoning can cause learning disabilities, speech and language problems and an increased risk for behavioral issues.

Flint Mayor Karen Weaver doesn't want people to leave and knows residents' trust in government officials has been shattered because of the water crisis. She remains committed to getting new pipes in the city and said she believes the new infrastructure will build trust.

“It's long overdue. We should not be in year three, still using bottled and filtered water," Weaver said. “This is unacceptable.”

Anna Heaton, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Snyder, said in an e-mail state officials aren't sticking to a timeline of when the water problem in Flint will be fixed and instead are "looking to data and independent scientific experts ... for guidance on when unfiltered water will be safe for consumption."

Testing continues to show improvement in the water system, she said.

Last month, federal officials said certified water filters distributed in Flint make drinking water safe from lead for everyone when they're used correctly.

But officials with the Genesee County Medical Society, a physician advocacy group, caution it may be too early for everyone to use the filters because of recent water flushing. They recommend pregnant women and children under 6 continue to drink bottled water if their water hasn't been tested and found safe to drink since the beginning of June.

The group also advised people who are at high risk for Legionella infections to use only bottled water for drinking, cooking and brushing teeth. Legionella, a bacteria often found in water can cause Legionnaires' disease, which is a severe type of pneumonia linked to at least 12 deaths in the Flint area in 2014 and 2015.

Looking out for each other

All around Flint, parking lots remain transformed into water distribution centers, signs with the word "water" direct people where to go, and people continue to load cases into their cars, often grabbing several at a time.

Weaver told the Free Press that bottled water will continue to be given out in the city "as long as people can't turn their faucets on."

Donations from across the country continue to pour in but have slowed from daily to two to three times a week at First Trinity Missionary Baptist Church in Flint, said Catrina Tillman, whose husband is the church's pastor.

"We’re not necessarily getting 18-wheelers now," she said. "We’re more ... getting U-Hauls full of water.”

Volunteers distribute water, wet wipes and hand sanitizer at the church and also go into the neighborhoods to get it to people who need it. As community organizations step up to help, residents also are watching out for each other.

Hugh Douglas, 56, of Flint pushed a grocery cart with four cases of water down North Franklin Avenue, near Maryland, to take to an elderly woman Thursday.

'I've taken a liking to doing it,' Hugh Douglas flint, 56, of Flint, said while pushing a cart with four cases of bottled water along Franklin Ave. in Flint's east side on Thursday, June 30, 2016, to deliver to elderly neighbors that can't get out to get their own. (Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)

"It's the only way I have to transport the water," he said, adding he doesn't have a car.

Douglas fills his cart with water at a nearby church and often walks 3 to 4 miles a day when he delivers it to people who can't get it themselves. He said he does it every few days, making sure people that he knows never run out.

Even watering plants scares some

While many residents opt for bottled water and refuse to drink filtered water inside their home, some aren't even comfortable using tap water outside their home.

Karen Mass, who blames the water for sores on her arms, uses bottled water on the strawberry plants in her backyard.

“I intake strawberries into my body, and I don’t want to take any chance of any kind of chemicals, lead, anything … in my body,” the 56-year-old woman said.

State officials say tap water is safe to use for watering vegetable gardens and plants, but they advise people to clean fruits and vegetables with filtered water before eating them. The recommendation for pools filled with tap water is the same as baths: Kids can go in it but shouldn't drink the water.

Sonia Banner said she was apprehensive to use the city's water on her flowers this summer, but she did, and there's been no issue.

Sonia Banner, 60, of Flint stands outside of her home on the north west side of Flint with with Ellen Uyeno, of Flint, on Thursday June 30, 2016. (Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)

Still, she's not ready to drink the water with a filter because she's not confident it's safe. Banner, 60, said she grew up in Belize, moved to the U.S. when she was 16 and has lived in Flint for the last 20 years.

She, too, may leave if the water issues doesn't get resolved soon. Banner anticipates making a decision by year's end.

“I’m from a third-world country, but I didn’t have to live like this. And I’m questioning myself," she said. "I’m just getting sick and tired of having to live this way. I live in America.”

Source: Detroit Free Press

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