The Water Issue, OF NOTE Magazine, Spring 2016 The Water Issue | Page 36

Dennis Walters helps bathe his twin sons Gavin and Garrett , 4 , alongside his wife Lee Walters at their home on May 27 , 2015 in Flint . The family rotates between having their sons bathe at their grandmother ’ s , who lives outside of the city , and using bottled water and baby wipes due to their assertion that their tap water had given the boys rashes . © Brittany Greeson / MLive . com , 2016 . Courtesy of the artist .
For Greeson , trust is the foundation for documenting these interactions .
“ I enter someone ’ s [ life ] with the understanding that this is a gift ,” she says . “ This is a blessing that people let me into this space with them . You want to treat it with sanctity .”
Flint , a city of approximately 100,000 people , is majority black . Nearly half of residents live below the poverty line . However , they receive some of the highest water bills in the country . The water crisis began after Flint ’ s drinking water source was switched to the lead-contaminated Flint River in April of 2014 in an attempt to reduce costs .
Yet , it took until December of 2015 for the city to declare an official State of Emergency . As of May 2016 , the state will pay residents ’ water bills in full , but only for the month . It ’ s unclear how and if credits will be applied in future months .
“ The water crisis has been happening in Flint for almost two years ,” says Greeson . “ The water switch was in 2014 and it took people until 2016 to care ? It infuriates me to this day . There were people protesting outside of
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