The story of the bad water in Flint, Michigan gets sadder and sadder.
The story of the bad water in Flint, Michigan gets sadder and sadder. Linda Parton/shutterstock.com

As if drinking poisoned water wasn't enough, the citizens of Flint, Michigan, one of the poorest cities in the US, and the city featured in Michael Moore's heartbreaking Roger & Me, were also paying lots of money for this bad water. In 2015, the bill for a house using 60,000 gallons of water was $864.32. The annual average for a government-run utility for the same amount of water is $316.20! Flint was even soaring way above the average cost for water provided by a for-profit concern ($500.96).

42 percent of the people in Flint live below the poverty level. It is even said that the people there are so poor, they have no idea of how poor they are. They have adjusted to their impoverished, post-Fordist economic environment. Their city has little in the way of meaningful work, lots of bad public services, and a governor who runs the government like a CEO.

Note: Bellevue, Washington also has very expensive water ($855.25 for a household using 60,000 gallons). But water should never be as cheap as it is in Phoenix, Arizona ($84.24 a year).

These facts were provided by Food And Water Watch.