The president urged parents to ensure their children were tested for lead and said residents should run their taps frequently to flush out remaining pollutants.
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While in Flint Obama met with Governor Snyder, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver, and other officials in a briefing at the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan in Flint.
President Barack Obama has taken a drink of the filtered water in Flint, Michigan.
Good for Obama. He told them the truth: Flint water is safe to drink.
Yet it seemed that it was the president’s mere presence that most buoyed the predominantly African American crowd of 1,000 at Northwestern Community High School, where signs above the school’s water fountains read “Do not drink until further notice”.
Snyder spoke in the gymnasium during Obama’s meeting and was loudly booed. Obama was speaking in the poverty-stricken city still reeling from state officials’ failure to treat water from the Flint River.
Mr Obama declared a state of emergency for the city in January and ordered federal aid for the crisis.
“I want to come here to today to apologize”, Governor Snyder said.
Located in the heart of America’s declining industrial rust belt, Flint has come to represent the crossroads of numerous issues dominating the 2016 election cycle – foreign trade, environmental standards, the economy and the gap between rich and poor.
What is less clear is where extra education funding might come from to help local schools deal with the learning and behavior difficulties that lead-exposed children in Flint could suffer over the next 10 to 20 years.
“Let me begin by saying I understand why you are angry and frustrated”.
“We have underinvested in some of our basic infrastructure that we rely on for our public health”, Obama said last week.
The residents of Flint, Michigan have been in a struggle with their government concerning their drinking water and high contents of lead for some time now – and the problem is only just reached the highest echelons of the political world, at least in a very public way.
“I’ve got your back”, Obama said.
“He was here. Flint counted”, Edwards said.
As residents began to voice complaints, evidence began to show that government employees hid evidence that Flint’s water was contaminated with toxic levels of lead.
Three Michigan officials face criminal charges for allegedly trying to cover up the water’s toxicity, including Stephen Busch, a district supervisor in the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance; Mike Prysby, who also works for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality; and Mike Glasgow, who oversaw Flint’s water quality.
He also promised that the aging pipes that contaminated the water with lead will be replaced, but cautioned that the project will take time.
“It just confirms what we know scientifically, which is if you’re using a filter… then Flint water at this point is drinkable”.
The president’s visit was prompted by a letter from 8-year-old Mari Copeny, a young activist who said of the water, “it smells like bleach and old fish”. He did not mention the Republican Party, but clearly took a swipe.
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“What made bankruptcy easier in Detroit poisoned folks in Flint”, said Anthony Paris, an attorney at the Jane Sugar Law Center in Detroit, which has sued Snyder’s administration over the emergency manager law.
