One year ago today, few people in America had heard of the disturbing water coming out of faucets in Flint, Mich. Today, it’s a story that has outraged many–including President Obama.
Al Jazeera America correspondent Bisi Onile-Ere covered stories in Flint for five years before moving to Detroit. Her connections brought her back to Flint in January 2015. “I began hearing complaints about the quality of Flint’s tap water in December of 2014, and that’s when I began digging,” she told TVNewser.
AJAM aired its first story on the water crisis Jan. 22, 2015. The network will air a special revisiting that report–and how the story has unfolded over the last 365 days, tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Chicago-based correspondent Andy Roesgen notes the intensified interest in the story is deserved, but for the families, it won’t necessarily mean anything like a quick fix.
“Some have suggested that the lead pipe problem could take 15 years to fix,” he said. “And for Flint’s poor residents (and there are many), that could mean 15 years of hauling home bottled water, of testing lead levels, of pouring water on their heads for a shower. As the single mom told me, ‘When do we get back to what we call normal?'”