[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 108 (Wednesday, June 27, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H5754]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      ENSURING SAFE DRINKING WATER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Hawaii (Ms. Gabbard) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, this weekend I visited Flint, Michigan, 
where I met with neighbors and residents, one of whom was named Joyce.
  Joyce is one of the more than 100,000 residents in Flint who have and 
continue to endure a life-threatening water crisis in their city which 
has gone on for years. Like too many families in Flint, Joyce's family 
has suffered incredible loss due to the criminal contamination of 
Flint's water.
  Joyce's son's name is Joseph. He was a father of three, and as any of 
us would, he believed that the water that he drank, bathed, and cooked 
with--the water that he gave to his children--was clean. He had no 
reason to believe otherwise.
  But after the city of Flint changed its water source from Detroit's 
water system to Flint River in 2014 to cut costs, Joseph began to 
develop rashes and bacteria that ate away at his flesh forcing him to 
tape his skin together on his face and on his back with band-aids.
  It was so bad that his doctors kept asking him if he had traveled to 
a Third World country recently. Where in the world had he been that had 
caused his organs to deteriorate as rapidly as they were?
  Joseph died leaving behind his three children; his family; and his 
mother, Joyce, who continues to keep his memory alive.
  Joseph's story is tragic and heart-wrenching, and the sad part is 
that this is not a one-off case. Samples of drinking water from Flint 
found 13,000 parts per billion of lead in the community's water, which 
is nearly 900 times higher than the EPA's maximum limit of 15 parts per 
billion.
  Scientific evidence shows that this lead contamination has killed at 
least a dozen people in Flint from Legionnaires' disease. It has 
deteriorated the short- and long-term health of tens of thousands of 
people in the community, including at least 9,000 children under the 
age of 6.
  It has created ripple effects causing fetal death and lower fertility 
rates that continue to have an impact on those who are affected and 
will continue to have an impact on this community for generations to 
come.
  Now, there are other cases of other illnesses such as cancers and 
things that are not even being tracked but are likely related to this 
contaminated water, and that will continue.

  It has been over 1,500 days since this crisis began and the people of 
Flint today still do not have clean water. Understandably, they don't 
trust their government to tell them the truth after they have been told 
the water is clean and safe time and again, only to show that it is not 
and people continue to get sick.
  These are the same officials who decided to put cost savings over 
human lives who later reassured the community that the water was safe 
when they knew that it wasn't. Now, despite this heartache, death, and 
destruction, those responsible in local, State, and Federal Government 
have not been held accountable for creating and perpetuating this 
horrifying crisis.
  Poisoning over 100,000 people through their water is criminal, yet 
not a single person has been charged. Not only that, but the State has 
declared the water in Flint to be lead-free and has shut down the only 
bottled distribution facility in the city. The need is still there, so 
we have churches and volunteers in the city who are coming together and 
cobbling together a means to distribute bottled water in whatever way 
that they can, taking care of each other, and demanding accountability 
for those responsible for this devastation.
  Understandably, they feel they have been forgotten, that their voices 
are not being heard, and that they have been left behind. All they are 
asking is that this country--our country--hear their personal stories 
and shine a light on the problems that still continue.
  We understand that this is not a problem isolated to Flint, Michigan, 
but is a problem that faces communities all across the country. We know 
that Flint is not alone. With the aging and crumbling infrastructure in 
this country, we know that too many of our communities don't have safe 
water to drink. We need Federal investment in our country's dangerously 
dilapidated water infrastructure now.
  In my home State of Hawaii alone, it is estimated that we will need 
over $1 billion in drinking water investment over the next 20 years 
just to ensure that our people have safe water to drink.
  I am a co-sponsor of the WATER Act which will make these critical 
improvements to our drinking water and wastewater services, replace 
old, lead-ridden pipes, and stop sewage overflows and other problems 
that are contaminating our national water infrastructure.
  We must hold those responsible for the poisoning of Flint accountable 
for the lives that they have ruined. Along with passing the WATER Act 
into law, we need to expand water testing in high-risk areas. We need 
to send a message to this country that we stand together. Water is 
life. We cannot survive without it.

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