Trump cuts ignore Flint crisis lessons

It’s understandable some American politicians would have little knowledge or memory of the water crisis that devastated the Ontario community of Walkerton almost 17 years ago. But there’s no excuse for forgetting about Flint.

Six months ago water quality in Flint became a political issue. Both candidates for the White House visited Flint, whose residents were unable to drink city water because of lead contamination. Both candidates promised to do better if elected.

Yet now President Donald Trump — who last September denounced the federal government’s role in Flint’s water woes — is proposing to cut funding for a $300-million program that has, since 2010, been working to protect and restore the Great Lakes.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative focuses on cleaning up areas of concern, preventing and controlling invasive species, reducing nutrient runoff that contributes to algae blooms, and restoring native species.

The Trump White House is proposing just $10 million be allocated to the initiative, eliciting deep concern from both American and Canadian officials that improvements to the Great Lakes will be halted or compromised.

Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley says the Trump proposal threatens to undo progress that has been achieved over the past decade.

Paul Mitchell, a Republican congressman whose district includes Port Huron, is urging the president to maintain the initiative’s funding. Mitchell says the program is “critical” to preserving the lakes.

Their concern is legitimate. It’s because of such foolishness that Flint has suffered through the kind of public health crisis usually associated with a Third World country. For about 18 months the city was drawing its water from the polluted Flint River after an emergency management team chose the river over a pipeline that would have drawn water from Lake Huron.

The results were horrible. Flint’s river water corroded the city’s pipeline system, leading to elevated levels of lead in the drinking water. More than 230 residents were diagnosed with lead poisoning.

Trump last September railed against the federal EPA for its role in the crisis. Yet by denying sufficient funds to a six-year-old initiative that has worked to improve water quality in the Great Lakes, he would make 40 million Americans and Canadians who draw their drinking water from the Great Lakes vulnerable to possible contamination.

What both Walkerton and Flint have taught us — or should have taught us — is clean water is a resource so critical to our health that its quality and availability can never be taken for granted. — Peter Epp