Most of the reporting on the Flint water crisis has been about the government wrongdoing and neglect that led to citizens being exposed to lead in their drinking water. That reporting, here and elsewhere, focuses on the decisions at the local and state level to switch to the Flint River as a temporary drinking water source, and the total failure of oversight and infrastructure in protecting ordinary citizens.
However, that reporting also tends to minimize the role of some of the grassroots leaders and heroes involved in pressuring the government to even respond, albeit belatedly. These leaders and whistleblowers—like LeeAnne Walters, a Flint mother who fought to have the Environmental Protection Agency investigate her family’s water—have been vital in keeping the pressure on, as Mother Jones reports:
In the summer of 2014, LeeAnne Walters, a stay-at-home mother of four, saw the effects of the state's decision to switch water sources firsthand, as her toddlers developed weird rashes and family members' hair fell out. Over the next few months, she joined a cavalcade of Flint residents complaining to city leaders of foul-smelling brown tap water and health effects ranging from hair loss to vision and memory problems. Lot's of people protested, but Walters also raised hell with the EPA, leading health researchers to investigate further.
These heroes include Walters; EPA manager Miguel Del Toral, who leaked the report to Walters; Virginia Tech professor Marc Edwards; Pastor Bobby Jackson; and physician Mona Hanna-Attisha. Their stories are detailed at Mother Jones.