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Erin Brockovich: Flint Water Crisis Is Only the Beginning, Blames Pollution And Corrupt Politicians In America As A Big Part Of The Problem

By Chrissie Williams
Published on: 07:16 PST, Mar 17, 2016

It’s taken America 16 years to listen to environmental advocate Erin Brockovich about water pollution. Now that the country’s water is declining from coast to coast, all eyes are on Brockovich to give insight on how to fix not only Flint’s water crisis but dozens of other cities that are experiencing high levels of lead and other toxic substances.

The Huffington Post reported that America should have listened to Erin Brockovich almost 20 years ago when she started her campaign for safe drinking water for all people in the country. Brockovich believes that clean drinking water is not a privilege, it is a fundamental human right in the United States.

The mother of three and grandmother has spent her career crusading for safe drinking water for all Americans. Her story was played out on the movie screen in Erin Brockovich, highlighting the case that remains the highest payout in lawsuit history against PG&E in California. PG&E is an energy company in Southern California, and she proved they knew the water in Hinkley, California, was toxic and lied to the residents by telling them it was good for them. Brockovich couldn’t allow these people to continue to drink unsafe drinking water and knew she had to do something about it.

Ever since she helped win that case that ended up as a Hollywood movie, the advocate has continued her fight against the government to fight for all Americans to have clean drinking water. She stated at multiple events that safe drinking water is not a privilege as the government wants people to believe, but it is an essential human right.

“This is your water and my water. This is my grandchildren’s water and my children’s water. We can’t adapt to drinking polluted water.”

Erin explained that for years, we’ve seen water crisis like Flint pop up, and the government wanted to believe that each case was an isolated incident and would go away. However, now the water crisis in America is growing out of control. Flint’s water supply will take millions to fix and needs the water infrastructure to be repaired. Unless Flint actually fixes the problem, there will never be a resolution to the city toxic water.

“For years, we’ve seen this water crisis coming. It’s like an earthquake — you prepare for it, but when it hits you’re still like, ‘oh my gosh.’ It’s cropping up everywhere now. It used to be, historically, we’d see it in places that were more remote — families looking to move away from cities, who were on well water — we’re now seeing this pop up in municipalities, in rich or poor or rural or in the city.”

According to Cancer.org, in a small town near Albany, New York, Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics allegedly poisoned the ground water with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) in the drinking water. The chemical is a white powdery substance and known commonly by Teflon. Drinking water with PTFE causes kidney cancer, thyroid disease, and testicular cancer. Clearly, this substance is extremely dangerous and shouldn’t be in drinking water.

The point is that Flint water crisis is merely part of the problem. Many cities, thousands of cities, in fact, are being affected by toxic, unsafe drinking water, and it needs to be addressed quickly by the government officials. Not only that, she firmly believes that not only should the water crisis be addressed with a plan to fix it, but she hopes the politicians and government officials will develop a plan of action to repair the water pipes, and prevent it from reoccurring.

It’s apparent that the government needs to iron out a plan to fix Flint’s city water and develop a plan for the thousands of other U.S. cities. However, so far, no official has given any real remedy for the crisis. There’s no doubt that Michigan Governor Rick Synder holds some if not most of the blame for Flint’s water crisis, but what will they do now that the damage has been done? One thing is sure: the government needs to put a plan in place, so a water crisis of this magnitude never happens again.

Don’t forget to come back to come back to The Inquisitr for more Flint water crisis news and updates.

[Photo by RW/MediaPunch/IPX]

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