Burwell’s visit comes the same day the Michigan House is expected to take up a bill that would provide million to help cover water bills for Flint residents with lead-tainted water.
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Snyder’s office later issued a statement saying that the project to replace lead lines “is proceeding with great urgency”, and that part of $28 million approved last month will go toward utilities; $25 million was requested last week for removing lead pipelines.
Elected a year ago and recently granted additional powers by a financial control board set up by the state, Weaver said Wednesday that she is pleased that her Fast Start plan has been endorsed by Virginia Tech water expert Dr. Marc Edwards, who is hailed for his role in uncovering the lead levels in Flint’s water supply and has testified before Congress on lead contamination in municipal water systems.
Activists say, however, that the overall spending is not enough and should include, among other things, replacement of all lead-contaminated pipes.
State officials are analyzing Michigan’s public health code in terms of “the requirement and enforcement of water testing in hospitals and other facilities”, Jason Moon, a spokesman for the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, told The Associated Press.
“Some of the poorest people in the U.S. are paying the highest price for the worst quality water in the United States”, Flint reverend Allen Overton said. “It is clear he knew that Flint’s water was poisoned for at least a year and shipped in bottled water for state employees, all while ignoring the concerns of Flint’s anxious, mostly poor and Black, residents”. In 2014, an emergency manager switched the Flint water supply from Detroit to the Flint River in a proposed cost-cutting effort-corroding pipes that have caused lead poisoning and a deadly legionella outbreak. Despite warnings to public officials, the corrosive river water was not properly treated and began leaching lead from Flint’s pipes.
“We’re still learning where all the pipes are, and one of the biggest challenges so part of the study is there are about 10,000 unknown pipes in particular”, explained Snyder.
The Flint firm hired by the state is no stranger to the city’s water system.
“Water is a critical need that we have”, she said. In Oct. 2014, General Motors’s Flint plant stopped using the water when they became anxious it was corroding their metal, MLive.com reported. The river water had already been flowing into resident’s taps for more than a year by the time the levels were detected.
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Health officials in Genesee County, which includes Flint, raised questions early on about a possible connection between the increase in Legionnaires’ cases and the water.
