There is a water crisis going on in Flint, Michigan, in the United States, which began in 2014, when the City of Flint switched its water supply from the City of Detroit (which had supplied it for nearly 50 years) to the Flint River. The move was an effort to save costs. It was viewed as a temporary fix prior to an ultimate switch to a permanent Flint water supply, which would be provided after the construction of a pipeline from Lake Huron, thereby eliminating Flint's long-time dependence on Detroit city water.

 

After the change in water source, the city's drinking water had a series of issues that culminated with lead contamination, creating a serious public health danger. The corrosive Flint River water caused lead from aging pipes to leach into the water supply, causing extremely elevated levels of lead. As a result, it is believed 9,000+ children of Flint have severely high levels of lead in the blood and have been experiencing a range of serious health problems. The water change is also a possible cause of an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in the county that has killed at least 10 people and affected many more (we don't know the exact numbers, as they are still growing).

 

The city has been declared to be in a state of emergency by the Governor of Michigan, and now President Obama has declared the crisis as a federal state of emergency. Please help our sister city in getting support in their time of need.

 

(Information gathered from online sources, including Wikipedia)