Racism, poverty, minority groups and money plagued one of the biggest North American water crises roughly two years ago in Flint, Michigan.

A group of stubborn officials and workers spent nearly a straight year putting off the growing concerns for the city’s water supply and its effect on health in an already struggling community.

Today history repeats itself with the concerns over the area of construction for the North Dakota pipeline and citizens of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, along with much of the nation, know the possible outcomes all too well and are not taking them lightly.

Currently the North Dakota pipeline is under its first stages of construction in the southern portion of the state. However, with plans to run just outside of a large Native American reservation, progress has been converted to conflict and mass concern over the potential health of the reservation itself.

The pipeline would run just outside of the territory and come dangerously close to the major water source for the people of the reservation. This has caused most of the people who live in the reserved territory and much of the country to call for action and change on the plans of the line.

The major concern lies in the unreliability of past pipelines in the state and surrounding areas. With the infamous reputation of many spills and failures, environmentalists fear of a spill into the important water supply has risen and set stage for protest. With that water supply being the Missouri River, there is certainly room for concern.

If such a spill were to occur, the local tribe fears the reservation would be put into an immediate state of emergency. If the crude oil were to reach the water supply, the oil would almost instantaneously affect the whole supply of water and put the local population without easy access to fresh water for an extended period of time.

In a population that struggles with racial issues and major financial instability, the potential disaster would fall all too close to our nation’s most recent water crisis in Flint, Michigan. That catastrophe alone has poisoned thousands of citizens and put many more at major health risks. Now the people of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe protest in a hope to secure a safer future without the pipeline.  

Yet once again following the same timeline as the Flint crisis, the local companies and state government have refused to acknowledge the concern with serious action. For the time being, the tribe can only fight and hope for higher authority to take a fresh and unbiased look at the possible struggles for fresh water.