The Water Crisis within a small Indiana town is not only trying the limits of citizens carrying damaged pipes and contaminated water but also of the citizens, who raised their voices. The story started with a problem in Alexandria, Indiana, with an unpleasant odor, flooding in the backyards and uncomfortable water quality but has taken a more serious turn when it comes to the loss of community trust. People have complained of raw sewage that has been showing up around their homes since the early days of spring but when tests indicated the presence of E. coli in water samples in the area, the worry became serious. This was not a made-up concern, but it was boosted by actual disease, such as a child who has been hospitalized, possibly because of water exposure, in ways that residents consider to be connected. However, when these terrified citizens crammed in the 7th of July City Hall meeting with questions to be asked, they did not get transparency but a gag order.
Councilman Jeremy VanErman drew a very shocking decision: water and sewer problems were not going to be discussed. Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) state officials that were to field queries of the people were summarily put under hush. This did not just seem like a formality to many people-this felt like a form of censorship. To those who had been having troubles with trying to comprehend whether or not the water they were taking baths with or consuming is safe or not, being instructed to sit down and keep silent was considered a betrayal.
In addition to water crisis, there is the financial haze of the Washington Street infrastructure project, a half-mile re construction which has become a text book example of mismanagement on the part of government. Public records indicate the original construction contract was just over $5.2 million with further engineering and consultancy contracts some of which were estimated at between 1.5 and 2 million dollars resulting in a lot of confusion regarding, what has in fact really been spent. According to Councilman VanErman himself, publicly, the project can run up to an estimated cost of $10 million but this estimate is not clear as to where the figure comes in. Sixteen months after the construction was started, the road is yet to be completed. It only has one drivable lane. Millions of dollars go unaccountable in the public awareness. A civic project turned into a project that could be either effected by exceptional incompetence or sheer abuse of funds. And none of them at City Hall is prepared to provide answers.
An audit has been demanded many times by James Peters, a concerned local who had gathered a lot of documentation and test results. He has become an oracle of the night-slandered by his detractors with the charge that he is a purveyor of crisis even as his own discoveries have caused alarm across the lineaments of Alexandria. His opponents say that he is politicizing the matter. However, when the water ends up smelling like it is rotting, the roads fall apart more than a year later, and when it is actively evaded by the politically membered to keep to themselves, one does not think in terms of politics anymore. It has to do with responsibility.
More than a broken water system is what Alexandria is dealing with now. It is a society that has to scream its voice in silence. The concerns of regular citizens, people who need to know that they are safe and understand their finances, have been marginalized too many times. The denial to hold an open discussion on an already known issue posing a threat to public health has contributed to already raging mistrust. Until the city can explain why Alexandria Indiana Water was ever in question, and why Jeremy VanErman chose silence over disclosure, Alexandria won’t be able to rebuild—no matter how many millions are spent paving the streets.
