A Plea for Water Justice
By Aronya Waller
June 28th, 2023
The Water Writers have presented our climate change series over the past six months. We have written about the impact of climate change, population growth, mental health, activists and organizations, and the government. The one aspect we have yet to cover is water justice. People across the United States have been affected disproportionately by the water crisis. Flint, Michigan, may be the first to come to mind, but there are others. Residents were exposed to dangerous amounts of lead in the water supply for over two years, but the problem is still not fixed. Most news outlets have stopped reporting on Flint, so we must rely on advocates and residents, such as Mari Copeny (affectionately known as Little Miss Flint), to fight for clean water nine years later.
Drinking water has been tainted in multiple states, including New York, Maryland, Hawai’i, Texas, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico—primarily impacting underserved and underfunded communities. Climate change, aging infrastructure, and extreme weather events cause the corrosion of our old pipes. This corrosion allows lead, copper, and other toxins and chemical pollutants to enter our water system. To top this off, irresponsible corporations focus on using the cheapest available options, which leads to spills of oil, latex, and other chemicals.
We affectionately call our team The Water Writers because we are all water zodiac signs empowered by fighting for our communities. We seek justice for all BIPOC communities who are disproportionately affected. Our communities are not being properly informed about the water issues in a timely manner. Our health has been affected, and we have been infected by many medical conditions due to contaminated water. This is just another form of environmental racism. We seek justice for Indigenous communities whose land and waters have been ravaged for generations. We must remember that they are the original stewards of this land. We must continue to fight for our communities. We cannot rely on the government or businesses to make a change. We cannot leave it to teens like Little Miss Flint or future generations to fix it. And every one of us has to work together. We must always keep our ancestors and Indigenous voices at the forefront.
A segment from “exhibits from The American Water Museum”
Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz
365.
Photograph from a South American newspaper:
US-headquartered companies bought the rights to water in other countries. These companies are
strangers to the gods of those waters, were not formed from them, have never said Gracias to those
waters, never prayed to those waters, have never been cleansed by those waters.
The US-headquartered companies announce, with armed guards, You can’t drink from this lake
anymore. The Natives gather rain instead, open their beautiful water-shaped mouths to the sky, catch
it in curved, peach-colored shells, in halved gourds, in their water-shaped hands.
The companies say, Read these documents— we bought the rain too.
We own the rain.
We hope you enjoyed and were educated by our climate justice series. We only scratched the surface of climate change and environmental racism. However, we hope that you continue to learn more and work to make a change.
Escribiendo Pa’ La (R)evolución
—Aronya Waller, Suzy González, and Ivanna Garcia (The Water Writers)