Brittany Greeson (Western Kentucky University)
We Fear the Water
Silver
Domestic Picture Story
Brenda Briggs, 58, a native of Flint, Mich., pushes a grocery cart full of bottled water to her home, which was several blocks away from a water drive put on by volunteers from Syracuse and Buffalo, New York, in the north side of Flint on Saturday, February 6, 2016. Briggs, a mother of three and grandmother to four, makes the journey to nearby water resource centers every week despite arthritis pains and difficulties maintaining her diabetes.
Story: We Fear the Water
Untitled
Brenda Briggs, 58, a native of Flint, Mich., pushes a grocery cart full of bottled water to her home, which was several blocks away from a water drive put on by volunteers from Syracuse and Buffalo, New York, in the north side of Flint on Saturday, February 6, 2016. Briggs, a mother of three and grandmother to four, makes the journey to nearby water resource centers every week despite arthritis pains and difficulties maintaining her diabetes.
Story: We Fear the Water
Untitled
Bertha White, 64, of Flint, Mich., opens her front door to local police officers to accept a new filter and gallon jugs of water during a distribution to residents by the Genesee County sheriff's office on January 7, 2016. Distributions continued through the day on the city's north side, which is lower income, with 1,000 water filters on the service truck. A primary worry for local officials had been that the limited mobility for the elderly forced them to drink the lead tainted tap water for longer than the rest of the population. The door to door program was eventually replaced by a hotline that elderly citizens could call for water deliveries.
Story: We Fear the Water
Untitled
Adam Murphy, 36, gives his newborn son, Declan Murphy, his second bath since birth with bottled water at his family's home in Flint, Mich., on April 9, 2016. The family had been using bottled water to bathe for over several months due to safety concerns for the tap water's content. Although it hadn't been verified by the CDC, a large portion of residents complained of rashes and hair loss.
Story: We Fear the Water
Untitled
City Council President Kerry Nelson listens to the concerns of a resident as she voices her concerns for local water rates and the lack of current aid as the Flint City Council holds a meeting to discuss whether residents should have to pay their water bills in full at Flint City Hall on February 8, 2016. Despite the city's ongoing water crisis, Flint water rates were among the highest in the nation. The meeting lasted four hours as tensions escalated.
Story: We Fear the Water
Untitled
Jacob Thomas, 6, of Flint, Mich., is held by his mother Alexis Taylor, 38, as he gets his blood drawn in order to test his blood lead levels at Carriage Town Ministries in Flint, Mich., on Thursday, February 4, 2016. Thomas was found with elevated blood lead levels and had to withstand additional testing. His mother said he has shown signs of behavioral problems within the last year, something she said she believes may be linked to elevated lead levels in his blood. He and his family had been using the Flint water until December of 2015, months after lead had been found in the water.
Story: We Fear the Water
Untitled
Members of New Era Detroit, a modern civil rights group, gather outside of a convenient store to hand out water to Flint residents, while chanting "Power to the people," in Flint, Mich., on Saturday, February 20, 2016. Government run water distributions sites were reportedly handing out only two cases of water per a resident at a time, a figure many residents complained was too little for families and daily life. This prompted an influx of independent volunteers who could be found in front of storefronts or at churches.
Story: We Fear the Water
Untitled
Gail Morton, 64, of Flint, Mich., sobs as she watches protestors gather following a scheduled march with the Rev. Jesse Jackson that made it's way from the Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle Church over a mile to the front of the the City of Flint Water Plant, on Friday, February 19, 2016. Residents like Morton likened the consistent water protests to the civil rights movement, noting that Flint, whose population is majority African American, was overlooked due to racial discrimination. "As a small child growing up you could almost see what our parents went through. We didn't have the rights. We didn't even have the rights to live in certain neighborhoods," Morton said. "I am so proud today, I mean, I am really proud."
Story: We Fear the Water
Untitled
Christina Murphy, 35, of Flint, Mich., holds her newborn son, Declan Murphy, during a removal and replacement of a lead pipeline outside of their home on May, 7, 2016. Due to a disorganized construction grant that replaced the eroded pipes in the interior home, Christina and her family of five were displaced in hotel rooms for over three weeks. This was one of the few visits they were able to make to the home to oversee construction. Currently, the city of Flint is seeking government funding that would replace all the lead lines in the city, a measure Dr. Edwards of Virginia Tech, who conducted the original lead studies, deems crucial in order for the tap water to even become drinkable. According to mapping by the University of Michigan-Flint, there are over 4,000 known lead lines.