In October, Flint was finally able to return back to Lake Huron water, but only after repeated denials by state and health officials throughout the past two years that the Flint water was unsafe.
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Three liaison officers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are in MI assisting state officials after Gov. Rick Snyder declared a state of emergency in the crisis Tuesday. In a message in July, the governor’s chief of staff at the time, Dennis Muchmore, wrote that he was “frustrated by the water issue in Flint” and that “folks are scared and anxious about the health impacts and they are basically getting blown off by us”. “There’s more work to be done”, Snyder said during a news conference with state and local officials in Flint.
Flint Mayor Karen Weaver met in Lansing with Snyder on Thursday and said preliminary estimates to fix Flint water distribution infrastructure damaged by corrosive water from the Flint River have ranged from millions of dollars to as high as $1.5 billion.
Five new centers have been set up in Flint to get water filters and testing kits to city residents.
“We know that we have kids that have been impacted by this, impacted in a negative way”, she said. “The scandal cost the state’s top environmental regulator his job, and the U.S. Justice Department has joined an Environmental Protection Agency investigation into what happened”.
The Republican governor appointed Flint emergency manager Darnell Earley who enforced the April 2014 decision to switch from the Detroit system to the Flint River to source water.
Flint’s tap water is not safe to drink because of lead contamination. Lead is toxic, and can cause stunted development in children. “Since in my opinion the state’s response to the ongoing crisis has been inadequate, I reached out to the White House today to request assistance with any additional federal resources that may be available”. “We implore you to do your duty”, says the petition. What’s more, as the community grew concerned about its water, administration officials initially told local residents not to worry and to keep drinking the water. Wilson says there needs to be accountability at the EPA, as well as among state regulators.
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Since October, more than 12,000 filters have been distributed, more than 2,000 blood tests have been done and more than 700 water tests have been conducted, Snyder said. It’s all being paid for by MI taxpayers, as part of the State of Emergency declaration issued last week.
