Toxic Legacy

In Flint, residents still won’t trust their taps

- Josh Sanburn

IT’S TOO HOPEFUL TO think the Flint, Mich., water crisis is over. Five years ago this month, the city began using the corrosive Flint River as its main source of water, which ate away the city’s pipes and leached lead into the drinking water of thousands of residents. Eighteen months later, the city reconnected to Detroit’s clean water supply after studies confirmed what parents had been telling officials: that lead from their taps was poisoning their families. Since then, the state of Michigan has declared Flint’s water safe to drink. Thousands of lead-tainted pipes have been replaced. More than a dozen officials connected to one of the worst health disasters in U.S. history are facing criminal charges.

But for many residents, the crisis continues. Flint’s families still stand in line for cases of bottled water. Parents are still fearful of lurking health problems. And many residents still refuse to trust what flows from their taps, no matter what the state says.

“Our kids are still sick and at risk,” says Ariana Hawk, the mother of Sincere Smith, the now 6-year-old boy who became the face of the water crisis after being featured on the cover of TIME in January 2016. “Families are broken up. Families are dying.”