The city of Flint, Michigan was hit by a major water emergency due to the presence of high amounts of lead in tap water. However, this poisoned water is very expensive for its inhabitants, who pay twice as much for water services as the vast majority of American citizens. All this while, a few hundred kilometers away, a giant like Nestlè is authorized to pump millions of liters of water from Lake Michigan almost free of charge.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
The city of Flint, Michigan was hit with a serious one water emergency, due to the presence of high amounts of lead in tap water. However, this poisoned water is very expensive for its inhabitants, who pay twice as much for water services as the vast majority of American citizens. All this while, a few hundred kilometers away, a colossus like Nestle is authorized to pump millions of liters of water from Lake Michigan almost free of charge.
Flint it has over one hundred thousand inhabitants and is located in the north of the United States, in the region of the great lakes: an area very rich in water resources. Despite this, however, for almost two years the city has been the scene of one very serious water crisis, because of a faulty water distribution system, which resulted in a lead contamination and the spread of numerous health problems among the population.
In recent months, for example, in the Flint metropolitan area there have been about 80 cases of legionellosis, which led to at least 10 deaths: these are unprecedented figures in the area and, although not yet proven, the existence of a link between the spread of the disease and water contamination is considered very likely.
The crisis erupted when, in the spring of 2014, while waiting to switch from one water resource manager to another, the city temporarily relied on a reserve system for the distribution of drinking water: a system that, with the hindsight, he was too old to be able to guarantee healthy water to the citizens of the city. In addition to the damage, for the citizens of Flint there is also insult: their water - the same water that is poisoning them - is the most expensive in the United States since they spend double what most American citizens pay for it.
Meanwhile, three hundred kilometers away, in Mecosta County, Nestlé pumps millions of liters of water from Lake Michigan for free, receiving $ 13 million in tax relief to do so. Although the multinational made a good $ 15 billion in profits in 2014 alone, the Michigan authorities do not charge her for the water based on the liters actually pumped, but they limit themselves to imposing a small fee on it for the use of the lake water.
In short, the inhabitants of Flint, who obviously need water to survive, are asked to pay much more than a multinational, which it uses the water resources of the area, that is a public good, to obtain profits.
Until recently, Nestle pumped lake water at a rate of 400 gallons (over 1500 liters) per minute. Today, thanks to the mobilization of a group of citizens, which brought the multinational to court, the latter was forced to reduce the amount of water pumped to 200 gallons (over 750 liters) per minute.
Here is the paradox: Flint residents are forced to pay more than any other American citizen to receive contaminated water in their homes; in order to avoid poisoning, they are forced to buy bottled water from companies such as Nestlè, which profit from a public good and, at the same time, receive favorable economic and tax treatment from the local authorities.
For the citizens of Flint, the right to access to safe and clean water has become a costly privilege.
Lisa Vagnozzi
Photo Credits Cover: Wikipedia
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