Rebuilding Flint: Clean Water That People Deserve by Madison

Rebuilding Flint: Clean Water That People Deserve by Madison - May 2019 Scholarship Essay

I am from Flint, Michigan. Many already are aware that Flint has been in a serious crisis since 2013, when the Michigan government announced that they had found traces of lead that had been poisoning the city's water and the residents drinking it. This tragic event has devastated the community and the residents of the place that I call home greatly. My family lives in a really awkward spot that is basically a mix of Mundy Township, Grand Blanc, and Flint (on the border of all three). I identify Flint as my home because that is where the rest of my family is from. Flint has always been a big part of me. I am currently serving in the school that not only my father teaches in in Flint, but it is also the school where my parents met. Two of my grandparents still live in Flint, and I cherish every happy memory made in the houses that I had spent so much time in.
My answer is simple and easy: I would use a $10,000 grant to support replacing the pipes in Flint, Michigan. The pipes are where the lead resided from and contaminated the water. Therefore, all of the pipes must be replaced. This is extremely expensive, which is why it has been such a struggle for the state of Michigan to begin construction and begin replacing those pipes; because they cannot afford to replace all of them. Even $10,000 would not cover everything, but it sure would be help and would be another step moving forward to ending the Water Crisis and walking into a clean future.
As I had mentioned previously, I serve at Southwestern Academy. I work with students and families everyday who have been affected by the Water Crisis. Some of them are still drinking out of water bottles, going through up to five cases per day. Although it may not be expensive (many cases have been donated throughout the city via water drives), it is still polluting our earth. Humans should be decreasing the amount of plastic they are using, and this event is actually causing it to increase because families are basically forced to drink out of plastic water bottles because they cannot drink their own tap water since it is poisoned. I had just conducted a research project in my English class on low reading levels in Flint Community Schools, and my research lead me to find that scientists are now beginning to link the lead in the water to slowing down development and children's brain functions. The water has also been proven to make Flint residents, especially young children very ill and have detrimental health effects that are sure to come in the near future.
The Water Crisis has affected the residents of Flint very seriously in many aspects, including increased pollution, slower brain development and function, as well as serious health effects. Michigan cannot afford to replace all of the pipes in Flint, but a $10,000 grant would surely help continue the process of getting these people the clean water that they deserve.