I saw Michael Moore on TV
promoting his new movie last week, and I was reminded that not only is he from
Flint, Michigan, but that community still has to use bottled water. It’s been
years (at least 5, I forgot the exact number) since that community was able to
trust their taps, and still nothing is being done to fix it. This fact is
infuriating as someone who cares about the well-being of the whole country, but
there is nothing I can do.
Later, as I was reading about
California’s 22nd congressional district, one of the facts that was
part of the headline was not mentioned or discussed until 4 paragraphs down;
part of the San Joaquin Valley does not have drinkable water, either.
This was a shock. My home state,
which I am so proud of, has this problem. There are people in my own state,
with one of the top 10 world economies, where people have to use bottled water
to do everything. The only way I was able to find out about it is because it is
used to talk about something other than the president during a congressional
election. Is this the only way we are going to hear about domestic tragedies,
if it is politically motivated? How do we turn sympathy into action? It sickens
me that this place that I rave about on a regular basis is letting our own
residents live on bottled water…here…in California. This is not to be borne.
I decided to do a quick Google
search about cities in the US without clean drinking water, and there are
dozens at first glance. Diving deeper,
there are at least 2 million people in this country without potable water. The
estimates are between 12 and 48 states have tainted water supplies, and this
affects between 2 and 140 million Americans. I will use the smallest figures
because I want to avoid sensationalism and overstating the problem. I still don’t
think the fact that three small states’ worth of residents not being able to
drink their water is conscionable.
I was hoping to find that someone,
somewhere, cares enough to try to fix this problem in at least one affected area.
I was saddened to find that there is nothing systematic in the works to solve,
or even alleviate, this problem. I wanted to see why Flint still has to use
bottled water, and I was only able to stomach some of the congressional
hearing. The state government said it was the EPA’s fault, and the EPA said it
was the state government’s fault. I spent some time on the EPA’s website to see
what they have done to address this problem after the Flint blame game in
congress. The governmental organization, which maintains that the oversight of
water supplies is in their purview, has done nothing in this last year to clean
the water. The closest they came was to reprimand a couple of companies that
had tainted the water they used and were told to stop. That’s it. A
governmental organization charged with protecting the environment, and they
slap a couple corporations on the wrist. This is wholly inadequate.
Now, the ability to clean water supplies
is not a simple task, and the polluters are many, some with loud voices and
deep pocketbooks. In light of the IPCC’s newest report on climate change, it is
essential that we discuss and deal with this problem before there isn’t enough
water for everyone to drink in this country. I know that sounds catastrophic
and inflammatory, but I’m not overstating the problem. Water is one of the
fastest ways to die from lack of something (next to oxygen and related issues).
What does water have to do with
social change? Everything. It is a long-standing psychological principle that
people have to worry about their survival needs before they can focus on
emotions or other people. The presence of drinkable water is one of those most
basic needs. If the country is going to move forward and have an independent,
informed electorate, at least 2 million people will need their water supply
cleaned. I don’t want to see this nation that we see as so wonderful and
advanced to start having issues that only developing countries are known for.
Oh, wait, we have a homelessness, poverty, discrimination, hunger, and potable
water problem throughout the nation. Never mind; we’re already there. So I guess
the first step will be admitting that these problems exist domestically, and
that they are not small problems. The next step would be to find a way to solve
these very basic issues, or to admit that we are not the great country we have
been lauding for decades and let the people die. Just saying it, even though I
cannot imagine a world where that latter move is our decision.
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