In a world of progress, advancement, and technology, we sometimes forget the things that are essential to life on a fundamental level. Among these essential things is water, which seems to be something that the government forgets. In two places in the past couple years, big companies and governments have tried to take away this necessity from the people of the United States: the Dakota Access Pipeline starting in North Dakota, and the Flint, Michigan water crisis. But unfortunately, even though those are the crises that media chose to focus on, there are water crises going on all across our country.

According to data from the Environmental Protection Agency, only 9 states currently have safe levels of lead in their water supply. This should not be acceptable. High lead levels lead to infection and disease, and birth defects in babies whose mothers drink the water while they are pregnant. Bacteria in the water (such as E. coli) is toxic to those who ingest it, which essentially means that the water supply in the 41 states that have high lead levels is poisoning the American people. In Kern County, California, high levels of arsenic are in the water which causes cancer in residents who drink it. Some communities in California spend up to 10% of their income on bottled water alone, just be able to drink and eat safely.

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Water is Life

These lead levels are largely due to corrosion in the pipes that carry the water to houses, businesses and schools. Unfortunately, replacing these pipes to fix the corrosion issue would cost America bilions of dollars over a long period of time. But, consider this: investing a suggested $80 billion dollars in fixing this issue could lend itself to $200 billion in savings for the United States, according to Casey Dinges, the American Society of Civil Engineers senior managing director. The United States spends $1.11 trillion in discretionary funds every years; that would mean that the $8.9 billion a year to fix this plumbing issue in the American water would be a mere 1% or less of the money spent annually. Isn't that worth it?

By neglecting the corrosion in our water system, we are slowly infecting the American people. This affects our community, jobs, and eventually, the country as a whole. Yes, it is expensive to fix this issue, but why is it okay to spend exorbitant amounts of money on military and foreign aid, but we can't spend a microscopic percentage to protect our own people? The fact that we have to fight for the right to not have a major water pipeline laid through North Dakota (on protected land) proves that not only do people and government officials not know that there is already a current water crisis, but they don't care.

The only true way that the American people can avoid being poisoned by their water source is for the government to get involved, which requires more movements like the one occurring at the DAPL currently. Flint dedicated themselves over nearly two years to holding the government accountable for their inability to provide a fundamental requirement for human life, and is still working to provide clean and healthy water for their communities. Our water may not be visibly hazardous (like Flint's was), but that does not mean that it is safe. 41 states have water that is not under the legal health limit and contributes to infection, lead poisoning, and cancer in American citizens.

What are we going to do about it?