Brockovich's Water Warning: Flint Is Just the Start

She's been on the case for a year already
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 29, 2016 6:57 AM CST

Think the Flint water crisis is bad? It's only "the tip of the iceberg," says Erin Brockovich. During an appearance on The Late Show on Thursday, the environmental activist explained lead-laced water has also been found in Sebring, Ohio; Louisiana; and possibly Wisconsin. "I can tell you for certain this is a national crisis that we're not getting ready to face—this crisis is already here," she said, per WNEM. She explained America's use of chloramines during the water-treatment process is an issue: It's "very acidic … Our infrastructure is very old. And it's causing all the iron and the lead ... and the copper and everything in these pipes to leach out."

The Daily Beast reports Brockovich actually helped expose the water crisis in Flint after residents reached out to her a year ago. Flint is just one of "hundreds of cities, towns, and community water systems that are failing," she wrote in a Facebook post on Jan. 20, 2015. "So much for local control," she added. "Everyone is responsible from the top down." In a post on Thursday, Brockovich—who highlights other water issues across the country—writes that "our systems are in an emergency state of disrepair. Water [managers] no longer make the choice to serve quality water without calling their banker or Wall Street first." "Flint is the shot heard around the world,” she adds. "We cannot stop fighting now." (More Erin Brockovich stories.)

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