The state is providing bottled water and filters to residents and recently awarded a $500,000 contract to Rowe Professional Services of Flint to study the city’s underground infrastructure for potential pipe replacement.
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But only 4,376 have been identified so far, illustrating a major hurdle to locating and removing all the pipes at the center of the city’s water crisis.
The board’s latest approval comes after greenlighting a recall petition unrelated to the lead contamination crisis in Flint on February 8, and a split 2-2 vote on another which failed because it lacked majority approval that same day.
“The state welcomes any assistance the University of MI is now willing to provide the state and city on this issue”, Snyder spokeswoman Laura Biehl said in an email today.
“In order to move forward and take care of city business who have to fill these positions”, she said.
As a cost-cutting measure in 2014, Flint switched its water system from Detroit to a local river.
“The people of Flint have suffered long enough”, she said. “I won’t rest until every (lead) service line is removed”.
Bullock said a grassroots recall effort has symbolic significance, but he wouldn’t rule out other methods – such as the use of paid signature collectors – if money materialized.
Rick Snyder, a Republican, plans to sign the bill, which had been passed unanimously by the state’s House last week.
Retired National Guard Brigadier General Michael McDaniel is helping to coordinate the efforts of the city of Flint, the Lansing Board of Water and Light, state and federal agencies and other stakeholders.
The $30 million will be used to credit residents for 65 percent of the water portion of their bills from April 2014 through April 2016.
The budget debate has proven an early headache for Speaker Paul RyanPaul RyanDemocrats storm Flint amid water crisis Obama “cautiously optimistic” on TPP trade deal This week: Senate Republicans strategize over Supreme Court MORE (R-Wis.), the former Budget Committee chairman, who’s scrambling to unite his fractured conference behind a new resolution. Clinton said the city’s water crisis is “unconscionable”, and citizens deserve both immediate fixes and full disclosure from Gov. Snyder.
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On Monday, Snyder said 89 percent of water samples collected from key locations in Flint measured below the “action level” of 15 parts per billion for lead in an initial round of testing, but concerns remain.
