Featured photo: Claudia Perkins is a member of the executive board for the Democracy Defense League. Photo provided by Claudia Perkins.
Written by Tanya Terry
Claudia Perkins, as a member of the executive board for the Democracy Defense League, hears other Flint residents say they are concerned the pipes are not all repaired yet. Others have concerns that damage is not repaired after the work is done.
“It’s concerning because had it been a more affluent city, such as Grand Blanc or Davison, the pipes would have been completed,” said Perkins. “My concern is that it’s been nine years and counting and we still don’t have justice in Flint as far as this water situation. The other thing is a lot of people complain about the criminals who got away with poisoning a whole city. It’s horrific! People are constantly dying. One in particular was my friend Robert Cornelius Williams.”
Perkins pointed out Williams had beat Legionnaires’ disease when he was at McLaren Hospital and he attended several protests in Lansing. Perkins pointed out he did not get to receive any funds from the Water Crisis settlement.
“I have personally suffered,” added Perkins. “My family has personally suffered. My sister died in 2017 from two kinds of cancer, and we were using the water. My little cousin was on the cover of TIME Magazine. My face got all spotted like a leopard. Then, I was full of E. coli. I kept going to the doctor. I kept saying: ‘Don’t you smell me?’ They said: ‘No, we don’t smell you.’ I was so sick, and I remember the night that my nephew was born. I was in the hospital. I was so sick. The phone rang. It was dust dark. I answered it and they said: ‘Is this Claudia?’ I said ‘yes.’ They said: ‘Rush to the pharmacy.” I said: ‘Why?’ They said: ‘You’re full of E. coli.’ It was in my system. That’s what the water had done to me. Then, my nephew had the highest lead count in Genesee County. He was on CNN.”
Since the 1930s, the local manufacturing industry, including General Motors, DuPont Paint, local dairies and others have used the Flint River to dump waste from their operations The Flint water crisis began in 2014 when the City began taking water from the Flint River without treating it properly.
Perkins stated she watched General Motors and Dupont put plenty of stuff in the water, but no one has held them accountable to clean up the Flint River.
“We even had to go downtown in front of City Hall and protest to stop the water shutoff. We’re dealing with so many things.”
Perkins stated she would like to soon see a Water Affordability Plan in Flint like the one available to residents of Detroit.
She stated the Democracy Defense League is just one of the local organizations made up of “water warriors that fight for justice for all.”
Mayor Sheldon Neeley recently talked to the Courier and addressed some of the concerns local residents are having.
“People are always going to be concerned, but we’re still testing and monitoring our water source, here in the city of Flint,” Neeley said. “It’s the most monitored and the most tested municipality in the state of Michigan, as it relates to water quality. So, people have concerns as it relates to the water. Definitely, those are justified concerns because of what has happened over a period of time. Some people always will have a level of concern until we get through the process of trusting again.”
Neeley assured the city is meeting all standards and regulatory regulations as it relates to the quality and testing of water. He confirmed over 97% of lead service lines have been completed, with much having been completed by the previous administration. Neeley pointed out he took office in November of 2019 and the process was started, and the secondary water delivery system was completed in 2021.
“The NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) lawsuit that we currently are facing was actually filed in 2017, before I got here,” Neeley said. “That settlement ended with $895,000 going to the NRDC and those plaintiffs. The first deadline that was missed was January 1, 2020. I started November 2019. The deadline was in two months after I took office.”
The City is currently on its third engineering firm, with two engineering firms having been dismissed before November 2019.
“The third engineering firm, which we’re with now, ROWE Engineering, was already contracted with the previous administration.”
Neeley stated the administration believes water is a human right.
Neeley said water assistance programs for Flint residents include the WRAP program and other programs for which more information is available at https://www.cityofflint.com/water-assistance-programs-for-residents/. He also said last year out of the American Rescue Plan dollars, residents received a credit, which paid for one-quarter of their water bill.
Still, Neeley said he understands the water is at a high cost.
“Before I got into office, a 30-year-agreement was signed with GLWA (Great Lakes Water Authority). So, we’re still working our way through that. Out of the 32 units of government inside of Genesee County, every other village or township inside of Genesee County is using GCDC and/or a well system. We’re the only entity or governmental unit that provides water for its residents that is on the GLWA system. When they raise their cost to the City of Flint, the cost goes up.”
Neeley said the City of Flint has held the current rate, despite cost increases from GLWA to the City.
Neeley said, as a resident of Flint, he and his family have been affected as other residents have by the Flint Water Crisis. He said for him this includes every day filtration of water and buying of bottled water.
“We suggest everyone drinks filtered water as we still go about making sure we replace the water lines.”
Neeley said the City was mandated to test places like University Park and Smith Village although City officials knew lead lines were not there.
“It costs us 10s of thousands of dollars to go look at those places where we knew lead lines were not.”
Neeley said he feels every time that someone puts the level of work into the defense against claims that the City is not moving fast enough or is “pushing” the City in different directions, it is not conducive to getting the work done. He also said when the NRDC and other plaintiffs settled with the previous agreement, they said they would not do it again.
“But now they’re doing it again.”
Nonetheless, Neeley said the City is in a “good place to get the job done very soon.”
A federal judge has given the City until August 1 to complete the project.
