KHS students, families cope amid water crisis

Even though the state of Michigan says Flint’s water is safe, many residents are still weary of it, which includes many KHS students and their families who were affected by the water crisis.

Three of those students shared their stories with The Eclipse.

Chase Lang, senior

While senior Chase Lang’s water was contaminated with lead, Lang is one of the more fortunate people affected by the crisis.

Lang’s father purchased an osmosis filter, which allowed his family to drink the water from the tap.

“We have an osmosis filter for drinking,” Lang said. “We get water from drop-offs or from the store. Sometimes my dad buys it. Sometimes he doesn’t.”

Regardless, they still drink the bottled water they receive, though that is all they use it for.

“We primarily use bottled water for drinking,” Lang said. “For showering and all that, we don’t care if we use the water.”

Luckily, showering and cleaning with the water has not affected Lang’s health in any way.

However, for Lang’s family, they’ve always believed something was up with the water.

“We’ve always known the water was gross — it’s city water,” Lang said. “But we didn’t use bottled water until about two years ago.”

Maddie Alpin, sophomore

Sophomore Maddie Alpin hasn’t always had water from Flint; her family used to live in a different home.

Unfortunately for her family, the water had already been contaminated by the time they moved here.

“We moved to our house and already had lead in the water,” Alpin said.

Because her water was no good, Alpin’s family bought water from the grocery store and got it from water stations around the city.

“We buy our water, but we also go to drop-offs,” Alpin said.

Alpin keeps herself safe by refusing to use the water to shower.

“I use bottled water to wash my face, and I don’t shower at home,” Alpin said.

Quashayla Johnson, senior

Like Lang and Alpin, senior Quashayla Johnson’s water had been contaminated.

But on the contrary, her family didn’t know the water was bad beforehand.

“We found out on the news,” Johnson said. “Our water had changed color and my little sister started to get itchy.”

Johnson’s little sister Quamora Fields, 10, had developed a rash.

“It was on her arm, and it was red and bumpy, plus dry,”Johnson said. “We had to take her to the doctor’s. We thought she was allergic to something, but it came from the water.”

Once her family discovered the bad news, they began to use bottled water.

“We had to use it to brush our teeth and make drinks,” Johnson said. “We still make drinks with bottled water to be safe.”

Johnson’s family still showered in their water, but had a way to lessen its effects.

“The thing is, we didn’t stay in the water that long when the lead was in our water so it wouldn’t soak into our skin,” Johnson said.

Fortunately, Johnson’s family switched to Detroit water shortly after finding out about the water’s effect on her younger sister.

“That’s when we changed our water,” Johnson said. “After we changed it, we’ve been better, to be honest.”