Barack Obama has declared a federal emergency over a city’s toxic water crisis that has left more than 100,000 residents without water safe enough to drink or cook with.
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The emergency declaration will unlock $5m (£3.5m) in federal funding.
The White House said the aid will “save lives and protect property and public health and safety”.
Cher has donated 181,440 bottles of water to the people of Flint, Michigan, who have not had fresh drinking water for over a year. Exposure to lead can cause behaviour problems and learning disabilities in children as well as kidney ailments in adults.
The U.S. Justice Department is helping the Environmental Protection Agency investigate the matter, and state Attorney General Bill Schuette has opened his own inquiry, which could focus on whether environmental laws were broken or if there was official misconduct.
The city’s water became contaminated after a change in supplier in 2014.
In October, Snyder announced state aid – and later approved legislation – to switch the city’s water source back to Detroit.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is in the process of reviewing whether the Flint, Mich., water crisis qualifies to receive federal assistance.
The state’s environment department had allowed water to be taken from the Flint River, even though the city’s treatment plant was not able to produce water that met state and federal standards, according to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Children are most at risk from the health issues resulting from lead consumption, and more than 8,600 under the age of 6 live in Flint, according to census data. Earlier this week, he sent the Michigan National Guard to distribute bottled water and other supplies to residents.
Mr. Snyder said as much as $55 million is needed in the short term to fix damaged lead service lines and as much as $41 million to pay for several months of water distribution and providing residents with testing, water filters and cartridges, the Detroit Free Press reported.
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Residents began to report brown tap water, hair loss and skin rashes nearly immediately, though government officials largely ignored their concerns, and the concerns of doctors and researchers who said the lead levels were toxic.
