St. Louis lies between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and has access to a great quantity of clean water. That makes sense. If you live close to fresh water, you should enjoy access to clean water.

But that wasn’t the case in Flint, Michigan.

Nestled between Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Michigan, Flint, MI lies near the largest body (the Great Lakes collectively) of fresh water on the entire planet. Yet, Flint didn’t have reliable access to a great quantity of clean water.

Flint, Michigan’s water was just deemed acceptable two days ago, after a four year clean water crisis. That’s a bright spot in their story, certainly, but it’s difficult to believe the proclamation of a system that knowingly provided residents with lead-tainted water for years. It’s also difficult to believe the water is potable knowing that all of the lead pipes aren’t scheduled to be replaced until 2020. How do residents know if the pipes leading to their houses are the ones that have already been replaced or if they’re not on the docket for another two years?

I don’t know anything about my pipes, either. I did watch, however, an interesting television program the other day about St. Louis’ water systems. While I didn’t see the pipes that lead directly to my home, I enjoyed learning about how water flows through the city and into our residences and businesses.

Armed with information and a concern for the safety of our water systems, I’ll remain attuned to the situation in Flint and try to prevent history from repeating itself in other cities.