The story of the Flint water crisis is not just about the politics -- it's about the people. As a resident, I use a case of bottled water every day for general hygiene, cooking and drinking.

My job is to show the world the faces of the people of Flint, to help humanize this disaster. Earlier this year, I visited several sites across Flint to take portraits of 100 people dealing with the crisis. 100 portraits. 1/1000th of the community.

These are the stories of my neighbors. We are more than a sound bite. We are human beings who want a basic human right, who want clean water running through our taps.

- Jake May, MLive/The Flint Journal photographer

"When my water was coming out brown, I used to just let it run and run (until it wasn't brown anymore) because we weren't given any notice that the water was bad." Milly Arbor, 74

McLilly is sick of Flint water. She's sick of her skin peeling. She's sick of all the work it takes just to get clean. "We have to heat up bottles of water to take a bath," she said. Quentin Howell, left, 20, and Angel McLilly, 19

"There were some reports out - we didn't get enough time to review the reports - they wanted us to vote right then and there. It was basically we're going to leave Detroit, we're going to build KWA but there was never any discussion about what they were going to do if Detroit stopped supplying us water, which they did a year later." Bryant W. Nolden, 50

"I'm glad they're trying to change it and get everything back safe now," Wiggins said. "It's safer, but I still don't drink it or nothing like that - strictly bottled water." William Wiggins, 16

"I'm an ex-con and I come home after five and a half years and I come to tainted water to bathe in. I didn't even know there was a crisis when I came home from prison," Jones said. "I was drinking water all the time. I'm drinking tea because I try to stay away from pop. I'm bathing in it and brushing my teeth. I didn't know what was going on." Chris Jones, 25

"It's frustrating when you are getting low on bottled water and you can't drink or bathe in the water," Vernon Miller Jr. said. Patrice Bell, 45, with Vernon Miller Jr., 54, and children Jerry, 4, and Omar, 5

"There was lead in him," said Eric Wilson of his son not breathing when he was born. Eric Wilson, 25

"I thought I was going to die," Wilson said. "I had been sick but it had never been like it was in the last year or so. A lot die from things like pneumonia and respiratory infections." Joyce Wilson, 60

Design and production by Scott Levin