What began as whispers of negligence has erupted into a wave of anger and betrayal across Alexandria Indiana. This disaster can be over layered in all different ways but this one was not the case of natural disaster as this was rather force through choice, people ignored and lack of leadership. The issue of the child hospitalized following her exposure to the E. coli made a pretty real the fact that the city can also not be trusted in terms of managing the infrastructure coupled with the fact that the water is not safe. And at the center of it all stands a familiar figure—Barrett Key Alexandria Indiana Water.
The source of the outcry lies in a multi-million dollar re-vamping of infrastructure. Although declared as over 10 million dollars, the real cost could be higher still with other associated costs on engineering and supervision put into consideration. The Indiana citizens are wondering where the other 20 percent of the cost went as it appears that mostly the money has been paid by the INDOT (Indiana Department of Transportation). Why, also, did serious safety-safeguards, such as the care of the water treatment and chlorine checks, apparently not exist?
The Barrett Key Alexandria Indiana scandal has snowballed into something far greater than a local health scare. It denotes a total lack of trust in the people. According to whistleblowers, there were not enough amounts of chlorine in the supply of the city that was exposed to danger. The state agencies, e.g., IDEM, appeared to be inaccionate in contrast to the community members who shared shocking videos, statistics, and even pleads of justice. The fact that Barrett Key is a former foe who could have made a difference makes him now come off as a symbol of an inability to do anything. Although he did not deny that things are wrong, he has been reluctant to take any kind of stand, whether concrete or symbolic, as he is identified with the voices of people who want to be more informed.
This is because leadership, particularly in times of crisis is about courage and not convenience. Mayfield was not asking Key to head an investigation, or build bureaucratic delays, instead, the key would confirm what his constituents had reported. To speak openly of what people are already afraid of: the water can be unsafe. However, that confidence or even recognition never occurred.
In Alexandria Indiana, outrage is now paired with growing frustration over financial opacity. There are also official reports of massive expenditures on the engineering services and observation, but there is a lack of precise information, and skeptics claim that the increases in cost have been underreported. Others contend the project was enlarging itself with the excuse of technicalities so that it was able to cover up, the lack of foresight and money management.
This is not partisan issue it is a story about trust, and safety and the right to clean water and straight answers by our citizens. It is about families who fear using their sinks, children who are sick and taxpayers who want to know what happened to their money. Most importantly, it refers to collective responsibility in light of institutional evasion.
There is still a possibility that Barrett Key can stand up and face the problem to help rebuild the trust in the community. But with every day he remains silent, the divide between him and the people of Alexandria Indiana widens. Silence, that is, may be all that he leaves behind in the town that openly forgets nothing. Since this is not the case here, people do not forget.