By Theresa Schliep

I never think about water. I drink it out of faucets and bottles, I shower in it, I use it to make my oatmeal if I am out of milk. In the summer, it keeps me cool. In the winter, it allows for fun snowball fights. It is a burden when it coalesces into sheets of rain on my walk to class; it is a blessing after a late night out on the town. Water is ubiquitous.

But I still never think about it. What would happen if it were gone or what would happen if it were unsafe?

Residents of Flint, Michigan,always think about water. Since 2014, residents in the city have been exposed to lead in their water as a result of negligence by Governor Rick Snyder and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. National media, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and every level of government have failed this city of 100,000.

Lead contamination traces back to Flint’s switch from Detroit water to water from Flint’s own river. While Detroit coated the pipes with protective substances like orthophosphate, which prevents lead from leaking from the piping to the water, Flint neglected to do so.

Water began to run red from residents’ faucets — not with blood, but with lead. According to a group of Virginia Tech researchers, some samples of water tested had enough lead that they were considered “toxic waste” by the EPA.

The dangers of lead exposure are severe. There is no safe amount of lead-contaminated water — any amount of ingested lead can result in abdominal pain, constipation, miscarriage, headaches, memory loss and high blood pressure, among other ailments. However, these are symptoms that arise in adults. The repercussions of lead poisoning are irreversible and catastrophic for children. They include developmental delays, hearing loss, weight loss, learning difficulties, slow growth, vomiting and abdominal pain. Lead poisoning might also be responsible for the outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in the county, which resulted in the deaths of 10 people and the sickness of more than 70.

Governor Rick Snyder recently apologized for the contamination of lead in the city’s drinking supply, and promised to help purify the water. But the governor cannot reverse the effects of lead poisoning in thousands of children. He cannot reverse years of government shadiness. He cannot regain the trust of his constituents, who trusted him and his administration to supply safe drinking water.

According to EcoWatch, Snyder knew about the issue as early as February 2015. The EPA consistently warned Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality of the dangers of the water in Flint. Not only was action delayed because of what Michigan considered to be insufficient evidence, but there was no public warning regarding the water. No Flint residents knew of the dangers of their own drinking water until they had been using it for upwards of 19 months. Many residents sustain themselves on bottled water, but some cannot avoid using the contaminated water to shower.

Flint is a vulnerable community. According to the Washington Post and the U.S. Census, the city is overwhelmingly poor — over 40 percent of its residents live below the poverty line. Fifty-six percent of its residents are black. Education is arguably the most important tool in escaping poverty, but lead poisoning severely inhibits learning and can permanently mentally disable children. Thus, educational disparities will only worsen in Flint. Residents grapple not only with institutionalized racism and poverty, but also with unsafe drinking water.

Flint is a vulnerable community. Had this occurred in an affluent, predominantly white area, the situation would have likely proceeded much differently. The national media would not have ignored the crisis for as long as it did in Flint. Environmental agencies would not have delayed protecting water from lead poisoning. The governor would not have said the problems would “fade in the rearview” and delayed any significant aid.

As long as people remain ignorant of this crisis, it will only worsen. It is inexcusable, it is egregious and it is one of the biggest failures of state government in recent history.

Next time you shower, make pasta or throw water balloons, question why some of your fellow Americans cannot even do the most mundane and commonplace activities without significant threats to their health.

In 2016, it is our national responsibility to hold the offenders accountable, to help the residents of Flint as much as possible and to prevent this from happening to any other community. This crisis has been ignored for too long.