FLINT, Mich. – Everyday life is a challenge for many families in Flint, from cooking to even bathing with bottled water.
It will be years before we know the true impact on the thousands of children living there. Local 4 teamed up with NBC News in a commitment to follow families as they face this water crisis.
Tiana Lankford had lived in Flint her entire life up until two months ago. She moved out of the city to get her children away from the lead poisoned water.
“I noticed that the water was brown all the time or that we were always getting rashes,” Lankford said. “The water was messing our skin up big time.”
Lankford’s two girls Carlina, 1, and Amoni, 2, both were tested for lead, but only Carlina was found to have an elevated level.
“To think that something could be affecting their development, I really don’t even have words to describe how I feel about it,” Lankford said.
She considers herself fortunate that she could pick up and move to nearby Flint Township.
Others like Tiffany Davenport and her girls Brooklyn, 1, and Emani, 3, don’t have the option to relocate. Without a car, she sometimes has trouble just getting her children to their doctor’s appointments.
“You really don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring and how it’s going to turn out,” Davenport said. “I don’t have nobody that I can just say, ‘Come on, let’s go get some water.’”
She said since drinking the water, she’s noticed issues with their skin and bald spots in the girl’s hair. She says the youngest was sick for reasons no one understands.
“She’s been throwing up and when I took her to the doctor, they looked at me like I was crazy,” Davenport said.
The Davenport’s have since stopped using the tap water. For baths, they use Washups and they use bottled water for everything else.
“Yesterday, I just found out that I can’t even boil this water,” Davenport said.
On the other side of the city, Darlene Harden’s family has similar issues with their hair and skin.
Harden’s 3-year-old daughter, Breeze, has a rash that keeps coming back.
“You can clearly see here she had a skin rash and she’s always complaining about itching,” Harden said.
The Harden’s water levels tested low for lead, but she believes it continues to cause stains in her toilet.
Though she cooks using bottled water, the family continues to bathe in tap water.
“It takes forever to fill the tub up so we just have to do what we have to do and pray on it,” Harden said. “We just pray on it.”
She’s still waiting on the results of her daughter’s blood test.