Lead-contaminated drinking water was piped to Flint after the city in MI switched its supplier in 2014 to save cash.
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On the former front, Clinton has used local and national media to keep important details in the public eye, such as the fact that a General Motors factory opted to eschew Flint’s water supply because they noticed it was degrading engine parts, even as state officials were insisting the supply was safe. Between Jan. 9 and Jan 16, some 20,800 cases of bottled water and 47,900 water filters were distributed, according to a Sunday release from the state.
It wasn’t until October that state officials admitted to not using the correct testing procedures for monitoring drinking water quality in Flint.
President Obama declared a national state of emergency in Flint on Saturday and the National Guard has been deployed to deliver clean water to residents. But officials remain concerned that old pipes could continue to leach lead, to which exposure can cause behavior problems and learning disabilities in children as well as kidney ailments in adults. Flint can get up to US$5 million in direct funding, though the state must match 25 percent and more money can come through an act of Congress.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is also running for the Democratic nomination, has called for Snyder’s resignation.
Snyder told the Journal that the Flint water crisis is “clearly a negative on what we’ve accomplished since I’ve become governor”.
The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, has produced some of the saddest and most shameful news to emerge this year.
Flint resident, Robert Hempel said these daily changes are nothing compared to the concerns he has for the future.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will provide water, water filters, water filter cartridges and water test kits among other supplies, for up to three months. “They’ve been given poisoned water and told that it was pure when it was corrosive and sick”, Jackson said.
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He said there should be “tape around the city, because Flint is a crime scene”, reports CBS Detroit. The “Dark Lady” artist makes it known that she’s a critic of Gov. Rick Snyder’s involvement with the drinking water issue and that she’s putting her head together with Flint’s mayor Karen Weaver on how to combat the problem. “I think he’ll talk about our mining opportunities, and the logging side of it. probably about the Grayling Board Mill that’s coming into MI, and how we utilize our natural resources, I think, will be important”.
