State officials say water samples from roughly 5,000 homes have been tested, and about 94 percent have are below the “actionable level” of 15 parts per billion for lead.
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Individuals can contract the disease from inhaling mist or vapor from water infrastructure and cooling systems that have been contaminated with Legionella bacteria, which thrives in warm water. It was copied to Dan Wyant, who was [Department of Environmental Quality] director at the time.
The governor apologized for the tainted water and said the compensation package would cover the estimated portion of residential customers’ utility bills for water that has been or will be used for drinking, cooking, bathing and washing hands. That includes the 18-month period during which the city switched its water source while under state financial management until it reconnected to Detroits system because of lead contamination blamed on state regulatory failures.
This week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed that they will join a broad criminal investigation in regards to the contamination.
Although it has been suspected that the outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease was caused by the switch in water sources, there was previously no evidence that the state was aware of that connection.
“We can’t afford to use bottled water all the time to bathe in”, said resident Linda Cochran.
“The city, the state, the local government officials, the governor, all know that this was catastrophically wrong”, Murphy said.
A spokesman for Snyder could not be reached for comment.
On March 12, Stephen Busch, a DEQ district supervisor, wrote back to Henry and challenged his assertion that the DEQ had declined to meet since being initially informed in October 2014 about a rise in Legionnaires’ cases. “They have to clean the water, and they had to alert the public”.
“The county was alerting and alarmed and seeking cooperation and help from outside agencies”, Stout told the AP.
“Since there is no plan announced or in place, it strikes me as putting the cart before the horse to say the Senate ought to vote on a $600 million emergency appropriations to pay for a plan that has not yet been created and disclosed to the American people”, said Sen.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said 100,000 residents “have been poisoned, and Republicans do nothing”.
During the outbreak, roughly 87 cases of Legionnaires’ disease were reported locally, and more than a dozen of the cases were treated at McLaren Flint.
“The EPA questioned, internally, whether they had the authority to go public with the information they had”, he said.
The acting chief of the Environmental Protection Agency’s water office has told Congress that the crisis in Flint caused by lead in drinking water was “avoidable” and that state officials resisted calls to deal with it.
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If approved, low-interest loans would be made available for small businesses and private, nonprofit organizations that suffered substantial economic injury as a direct result of the contaminated public water supply.
