Caption + The Flint River is shown near downtown Flint, Mich., Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016.
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Among them: submitting plans for ensuring that Flint’s water has adequate treatment, including corrosion controls; making sure city personnel are qualified to operate the water system in a way that meets federal quality standards; and creating a website where citizens can get information. The Flint native said he’s still trying wrap his mind around what happened.
Late in 2015, testing revealed that the proportion of children with above-average levels of lead in their blood had nearly doubled since the city’s decision to switch to the Flint River.
A disaster declaration is mainly for natural disasters.
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“Due to the intense media demand and severity of this issue, we are assisting the Governor’s team so that they are able to dedicate their focus and resources to helping the people of Flint”, Mercury said in an email.
Weaver, who was elected in November to lead the city that is in receivership, can now hire and fire the city administrator and department heads for Flint under recommendations approved by Michigan Treasurer Nick Khouri. Lead poisoning in children can damage the nervous system and cause behavioral and cognitive problems.
“The baby drinks bottled water but she does have to bathe in it”, Parker said of his 4-year-old.
As panic spread through Flint, which switched its water supply in April 2014 in an effort to save money, many immigrants were left in the dark.
A federal inspector general’s office will examine the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s handling of the Flint water crisis, looking to determine whether the regulatory agency adequately used its oversight authority for safe drinking water to respond to reports of high lead levels coming out of some residents’ taps. On Tuesday, Snyder struck a different tone with his State of the State address, apologizing to the people of Flint and saying, “I will fix it”. Flint, a poorer, majority African-American city of 100,000 is about an hour north of Detroit.
“In last month’s bipartisan budget agreement, we secured additional funding to help cities like yours build water infrastructure”, Obama told the mayors.
On a visit to Detroit on Wednesday, Obama said: “I know that if I was a parent up there, I would be beside myself that my kid’s health could be at risk”. Gov. Rick Snyder put the figure at $700 million.
The one thing most vital on the minds of this local community, Father Mabee said, is that they want a healthy place to live – for themselves and especially for their children.
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“In many cases, utilities and customers will have to work collaboratively to remove lead service lines”, LaFrance added in his comments.
