Families Devastated by Flint Water Crisis
AVERY BOONE, FLINT RESIDENT: Why is it with two Democratic administrations and one Republican administration, almost 30 years, that these urban communities have not had any kind of help, service. You know, we've seen, you know, wars develop under both administrations, you know, things outside, but we don't see what's going on in these -- these communities, rustbelt communities any more, on the both Democrat and Republican.</s>ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Arlen (sic) Boone, just one of the folks I spoke with on the sidewalk downtown in Flint, Michigan, they have some very pointed questions that they have for the candidates, not just the Dems but Republicans, too. That said we are counting down to our Democratic debate. CNN hosting it. Going to be held right here in Flint tomorrow night and Flint of course, as you must know by now, has become a major issue in this political race, after the city used a tainted water source. It's right behind me. The Flint River. And it exposed all who drank it to lead. There's been a ripple effects since, there's been all sorts of other pieces in this puzzle but according to "The Detroit Free Press" the bigger ripple effect of the water poisoning could end up costing you, everyone across this nation, and the number is massive. It's an estimated $300 billion. All of that to do with the infrastructure upgrades to lead pipes all across the country. Other cities just like Flint. So if you think that this is just a Flint story, it is not. It is a money story and it is a danger story. Now look at the pictures on your screen now. This was the image yesterday as the city began to dig up the old lead pipes in some of the neighborhoods where the people are most at risk. Senior citizens, and the pregnant women, and then of course there are the children, specifically children under 6. Right now I want to take this focus to the children of Flint. Sara Sidner has been working hard to collect these stories and speak directly to these families who are dealing with kids. These kids not only are affected with what they're dealing within their homes right now, but there is a future coming down the pike and it is their future and it is not going away, even if they fix these pipes.</s>SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's true and it's bleak. If you talk to the children, we talked to dozens and dozens of people while we've been here. What comes out of their mouth is actually surprising, the things that they say do not sound like an 8-year-old or an 18-year-old, it sounds like a grownup who's been through a whole heck of a lot.</s>BANFIELD: They know what's going on.</s>SIDNER: They know what's going on, and they see their town dying and they're really, really affected by it.</s>BANFIELD: Let's take a look.</s>DOMINIQUE ABSELL, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: First, I want to serve my country.</s>SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dominique Absell is only 18 but his lifelong dream for his future is dead.</s>ABSELL: That was my dream to go to the Army. And now that I can't.</s>SIDNER: The city he loves is now a source of anxiety, partly because of the water crisis and what has happened to his body since.</s>ABSELL: I start by getting headaches and passing out, seizures.</s>SIDNER: His family says doctors can't pinpoint exactly why he began blacking out, sometimes several times a week. It means medically he can't qualify for the Army. He isn't even allowed to drive. His blood test showed very low levels of lead, convincing his mother the contaminants in Flint's water are to blame but there's no medical proof. (</s>On camera): You said you don't know if it's the water. What do you think it is?</s>BEVERLY DAVIS, DOMINIQUE ABSELL'S MOTHER: It has to be the water. He just stopped passing out because I just stopped cooking with the water.</s>SIDNER (voice-over): Absell is one of the children who will inherit the city of Flint, a city that is now a shell of its former self Realty Track estimates 1 in 14 homes has been abandoned. For three consecutive years ending in 2013, Flint has had the most violent crimes per capita and about 40 percent of the residents live beneath the poverty line. Then came the decision by government officials to save money by switching the water supply. It ended up creating a major health hazard. The biggest potential harm hitting Flint's future generations. Like 8-year-olds Julian and Nadia, who play like children but speak in extremes about the water. (</s>On camera): What's wrong with the water?</s>NADIA BAYLOR, FLINT KID RESIDENT: They have lead in it and they have poison in it because the pipes are dirty.</s>SIDNER: Do you know what lead does to people who drink lead? At 8, they notice everything like the number of times it had to prep the sheltering in place in case there is a shooter. And the number of boarded up houses in their neighborhood. If it was up to them their future won't be in Flint. And what about you? Why would you leave Flint?</s>BAYLOR: Because this water is poisonous. And if I drink it, I go to die and I don't want to die. Nobody wants to die.</s>SIDNER (voice-over): From 8 to 18, many of Flint's children and their families worry the town is dying, and a really soft-hearted young man beside himself because he truly believes he has no future at all.</s>BANFIELD: It is just a like a parade of one tragedy after another. And to hear a little girl at 8 years old say nobody wants to die, it's so sobering to realize this problem needs the focus of the country, it needs the focus of the candidates who are coming here and the Republicans as well who have talked about Flint, but maybe haven't visited as much if you ask the people on the street. I do want to ask you something. We spoke off camera. You mentioned that the class sizes in Flint are going up because schools are closing. And the significance of that for kids who have lead poisoning and the effects of it are massive.</s>SIDNER: It's huge because one of the things that they deal with is attention deficit disorder. So if you have a classroom of 34 children, and you have two or three or four or five kids who all have this issue and they're jumping up and down, and they're disrupting, then the other children can't learn, and neither can they. And so what's the future of children here if this issue isn't looked at, and then there has to be something in place to help these children get through what has happened to them. They have no part in it. And that's why the parents here are so incredibly angry. They cannot believe this was done as a cost saving measure at the expense of their health and their children's health.</s>BANFIELD: If there was one -- no city deserves this, but if there were one city that couldn't take another hit, you know, after the mass closures of all of those the assembly plants, the auto industry just shrinking this city down. I went to Buick City yesterday.</s>SIDNER: Yes.</s>BANFIELD: It looks like an air strip. There's nothing left there. And the decay that's going on around it is so sad. But it is having this additional effect, that the water crisis is having this additional effect of flight. People are running. I met a woman yesterday right across the street from Buick City said, I am going back to California -- Colorado. Colorado, she said.</s>SIDNER: People are leaving this town. It is shrinking, for the first time since the 1920s, in 2014 the numbers of people here dropped below 100,000 for the first time since the 1920s. This town is shrinking. But there are lots of people here who don't want to go. The parents of those children said I love this city, I want this city to do well, but this has just sent us into a panic. And now our homes are worth nothing. We can't leave. We are stuck here. We can't leave. So what has to happen? There has to be infrastructure change and there has to be attention paid to our kids to make sure that if they have been poisoned with lead, they can still learn.</s>BANFIELD: Right. And the political gridlock needs to figure itself out because it does take money. They have to just do the work, spend the money. And who is going to OK it and who is going to be OK and on the hook for what it's going to cost. That's the big issue right now that the candidates -- by the way, I don't know how you feel. I did not expect to see the adorable town that I have arrived in. It is lovely. The downtown is lovely. The people are lovely. They're smart, they're astute. There were wonderful cafes.</s>BANFIELD: It's pretty.</s>SIDNER: They're really interested in what's going on. It's beautiful, but there are lots of people there talking about politics.</s>BANFIELD: Yes.</s>SIDNER: When you go into a Starbucks or you go into a local cafe.</s>BANFIELD: Number one conversation.</s>SIDNER: Everybody is talking about the candidates.</s>BANFIELD: Sara Sidner, doing great work on the ground here. Thank you. And also our Sara Ganim. They've pretty much taken up residence here. Thank you very much. Really appreciate it. And by the way, CNN was really committed to doing this project. We did not come empty handed to Flint, Michigan. We brought a half million bottles of water, handed them out to residents. It was the convoy of hope. We had Sara and Martin Savidge, and I know that Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon are going to be taking part in this as well. A lot of our folks, our on airs, our off airs, going door-to-door literally, door-to-door, and dropping off the bottles. Also manning stations where we're handing out bottles of water as well to the people of Flint, Michigan. Please help out as well. There's our Van Jones doing this. You can do this from the comfort of your own living room. I promise you. Just go to CNN.com/impact. And you will find out a way how you can help the people of Flint, Michigan, your very self. They're your fellow Americans, folks, they need you. Also don't miss the CNN Democratic debate. Lots of critical issues that will be going on, on the stage here tomorrow night. Flint, Michigan, is the site. 8:00 p.m. Eastern, live. CNN.