Roughly two dozen community members gathered outside the area where Snyder delivered his speech.
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Critics continued to say Snyder is responding to the lead contamination problem too slowly. The city has since switched back, but lead levels in its water supplies remain high.
“We need to focus on improving Flint for the longer term”, Snyder said in a press release.
State and city leaders had largely dismissed residents’ complaints for months, assuring them that the water was safe and being tested regularly. The bottled water donated by the UAW water will be trucked Sunday to an area food bank. Though Flint River water was cheaper, it also proved to be much more corrosive, and as it coursed through the town’s poorly maintained pipelines, it leeched trace metals and other risky substances from the surrounding environment, leaving the tap water foul-smelling, strangely colored, and filled with lead. But the city returned to Detroit water in October after testing detected increased lead levels in residential water supplies and in children’s blood. People patiently waited in a bitterly cold garage as volunteers filled out paperwork and helped them carry cases of bottled water to cars in the parking lot.
The spike in donations caused some of the websites to crash, organizers said. Snyder’s emergency declaration sets the stage for seeking federal assistance and can be renewed beyond its February 1 expiration if the state cannot stop the lead contamination.
FEMA spokesperson Rafael Lemaitre writes on Twitter that the agency is in MI to provide situational awareness and support to the state. “We’re going to continue to step up our efforts”, he said. It took a little bit for our CAN’d Aid Foundation crew to figure out the logistics, butOskar Blues Brewery North Carolina is canning and shipping the water as we speak.
Flint switched from Detroit’s water system to river water in a cost-cutting move in 2014, while under state financial management. There weren’t specifics offered for numerous questions posed. “I don’t understand this, it’s outrageous”, Meah says.
On Monday, Pastor Bobby Jackson with the Mission of Hope joined Roland Martin on NewsOne Now to discuss the latest developments in the crisis that has left the Mid-West city’s water undrinkable.
“I can stand up here and fight with him or I can get the people out there what they need”, she said.
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“We’re all human beings and we all deserve the same empathy and compassion”.
