Overview:

Michigan's fresh water is abundant, yet water safety remains a concern, highlighted by the Flint crisis. The Trump Administration's rollback of environmental protections and cuts to clean water funding contrasted with the Biden-Harris Administration's efforts to reverse these policies and invest in water infrastructure. The EPA reports nearly 70,000 water bodies nationwide fail to meet quality standards, with PFAS pollution identified in southeast Michigan. The choice between Trump, Harris, and Walz on clean water issues is crucial for public access to clean water.

Michigan is proud to be the U.S. state with the world’s largest supply of fresh water – we are surrounded by the Great Lakes, which contain 20% of the world’s fresh water. Water is crucial to our economy, environment, and people. It is part of our history. Unfortunately, so are problems with water safety and security. 

Michigan’s safe drinking water issues, which came to light in 2016 in Flint, have woken up the nation to our collective clean water challenges. When Flint residents complained about discolored tap water, testing revealed lead concentrations more than 25 times higher than EPA standards. 

Thousands of children were supplied contaminated water for eighteen months. Mari Copeny, affectionately known as Little Miss Flint, emerged as a beacon of hope and advocacy at just eight years old, fighting to raise awareness and inspiring us all to fight for the clean and safe water we need.  

Flint’s crisis shocked the nation, but some governments’ promises of help have been empty.  Prior Republican Governor Rick Snyder was criminally charged by the Attorney General but eventually escaped prosecution. Former President Trump repeatedly promised to pass national legislation to get “crystal clean water.”

He never did. While Michigan and other states passed tougher laws to crack down on dirty water, the Trump Administration actually rolled back legal protections provided by federal environmental laws and cut clean water funding.

Trump doubled the time allowed to replace lead pipes – even after the Flint water scandal. At a recent campaign event in Flint, the former President did not even mention the issue.

When President Biden and Vice President Harris (who has been tackling this issue for years) took office, they immediately began to reverse these harmful policies. They worked for two years to pass legislation to fix lead pipes and our broken water infrastructure.

This month, despite counter-lobbying, the EPA gave utilities only 10 years to replace virtually every lead pipe in the country, imposing the strictest limits to date on a neurotoxin that is particularly dangerous to infants and children. President Biden described this as an overdue environmental justice breakthrough for disadvantaged communities and kids like Mari who had “borne the brunt of lead poisoning for too damn long.”  

Through policies eliminating billions of tons of pollution, Vice President Harris has prioritized working Americans’ health and wellbeing over profits for big polluters. 

The Biden-Harris Administration is investing $55 billion to expand access to clean drinking water for households, businesses, schools, and childcare centers by improving water recycling and wastewater treatment infrastructure in communities across the country.

Unfortunately, our safe water challenges are not over. The EPA and states have identified almost 70,000 water bodies nationwide that do not meet water quality standards. This June, Planet Detroit reported  “forever chemicals” or “PFAS” in 59 areas in southeast Michigan.

Sadly, we still have contamination in our most basic public resource, but Michigan and the country have started to move in the right direction under the Biden-Harris administration and Governor Whitmer. We now have the first-ever national standards on PFAS pollution in water—an issue former President Trump personally refused to address. 

The question right now is, whom do you trust to keep our precious water clean? 

Do you trust former President Trump, who has promised to help big corporations that give him millions in campaign contributions and who has a track record of the worst environmental protection in history? 

Or do you trust Vice President Harris and Governor Walz, whose track record on clean water spending and public protection is unmatched? 

Vote as if your access to clean water depends on it – because it does.  

Planet Detroit’s Voices column includes opinion pieces from our community of partners and readers. These pieces express the voices of the authors and not necessarily those of the publication.

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Ebony is a dedicated leader in environmental justice, driven by the belief that the climate movement must prioritize racial equity. With over 15 years of experience in both corporate and nonprofit sectors, she has successfully built and led teams focused on fostering justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

As the former Executive Director of Greenpeace USA, Ebony championed racial and gender equity alongside environmental justice, leaving a lasting legacy in the organization. Now expanding her focus to include voting rights, she emphasizes that climate justice is inseparable from racial justice.