LeeAnne Walters, 2018 Goldman Environmental Prize, United States — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00[Music]
2. 0:02in 2014 as Flint was facing a massive
3. 0:06budget crisis city and state officials
4. 0:09saw their local river water as a way to
5. 0:11cut costs after 50 years of buying water
6. 0:15from Detroit they flipped the switch and
7. 0:18Flint River water began flowing through
8. 0:20the city's aging pipes that River has
9. 0:24been an industrial dumping ground for 75
10. 0:28plus years after the switch my family
11. 0:32started experience in rashes we started
12. 0:36noticing some hair loss
13. 0:38my oldest son they thought he had cancer
14. 0:41ten months after the switch Leanne
15. 0:44finally convinced the city to test her
16. 0:46water which he begun flowing brown from
17. 0:49the tap they found blood levels as high
18. 0:53as 700 parts per billion the maximum
19. 0:57allowed by the EPA is 15 lead is a
20. 1:02dangerous neurotoxin that can lead to
21. 1:04profound developmental disorders in
22. 1:06children when my children were finally
23. 1:10tested I came back that my son had lead
24. 1:12poisoning
25. 1:13my legs gave out I had to grab my
26. 1:16kitchen counter and and it was in like
27. 1:19it like a nervous breakdown in my
28. 1:20kitchen other people in the community
29. 1:23were having similar health issues but
30. 1:26the city insisted the problem was
31. 1:28isolated to Leanne's home it was very
32. 1:31obvious that we were being lied to
33. 1:33we as a group started organizing to let
34. 1:36people know what was going on
35. 1:39anybody with discolored water get your
36. 1:42water tested thank you my husband had
37. 1:45said to me there's all those physical
38. 1:46evidence
39. 1:47nobody's do anything to help us how do
40. 1:50we make them hear us and so we decided
41. 1:54to get to the science of it because you
42. 1:55can't argue with science
43. 1:59LeAnn began researching water chemistry
44. 2:01and communicating with the EPA
45. 2:03regulation manager Miguel del Toro what
46. 2:07then covered was stunning Flint wasn't
47. 2:10using federally mandated corrosion
48. 2:11controls that prevent lead from leaching
49. 2:14off pipes into the water supply Miguel
50. 2:18it was like oh my god they were breaking
51. 2:20a federal law there are no corrosion
52. 2:21controls I said well that's what I
53. 2:24thought I think when I drink the water
54. 2:26every day so but city state and federal
55. 2:29officials continue to deny that Flint
56. 2:32had a citywide lead problem where do you
57. 2:35go when the federal government is no
58. 2:37longer helping protect people like they
59. 2:41should Miguel put LeAnn in touch with
60. 2:46Virginia Tech professor Marc Edwards a
61. 2:48top LED expert I had called Marc Edwards
62. 2:52and tears saying we can't say bye and
63. 2:55watch everybody killed Ranbir poison we
64. 2:57can't allow this to happen
65. 2:58and from that Marc came up with us doing
66. 3:03a citizen testing
67. 3:08in a community-wide effort the residents
68. 3:11of Flint set out to test their water
69. 3:13with the goal of collecting 75 to 100
70. 3:16samples and Marc never dreamed we would
71. 3:20get him back
72. 3:21277 kicks but that's just the nature of
73. 3:25me and was amazing at keeping everybody
74. 3:32headed the right direction keeping
75. 3:35everything scientifically correct so we
76. 3:38could get the answers we had to have the
77. 3:41tests showed that one in six homes had
78. 3:43lead levels exceeding EPA standards the
79. 3:48water in Lee Ann's home tested as high
80. 3:50as 13,000 parts per billion that's two
81. 3:53times hazardous waste levels our worst
82. 3:56fear became the reality that Flint was
83. 4:00experiencing one of the worst
84. 4:02environmental crimes in US history
85. 4:06in response the city switched back to
86. 4:09Detroit water and Michigan's governor
87. 4:11declared a state of emergency today Lee
88. 4:18Ann is working to change the EPA's
89. 4:20federal lead and copper rule to improve
90. 4:22testing standards we need this to happen
91. 4:25now not 10 years from now thank you
92. 4:29where's it going to that is my personal
93. 4:32mission to make sure that this gets
94. 4:34changed so what happened to my family in
95. 4:36my community never happens to anybody
96. 4:38else again for outstanding environmental
97. 4:41achievement for North America the 2018
98. 4:44goldman environmental prize is awarded
99. 4:47to Leanne Walters Flint Michigan