The news came as churches, local organizations and out-of-state donors worked to provide drinking water – and as criticism mounted from residents who wondered how the governor could seemingly declare a state of emergency without backing it up.
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Gov. Rick Snyder is pledging that officials will make contact with every household in Flint to check if residents have a filter and bottled water during the city’s drinking water crisis.
Indicated he didn’t realize Flint had a problem with lead in the water supply until approximately October 1 even though city test results sent to the state showed lead levels on the rise immediately after the city began using the Flint River as its water source.
Flint’s drinking water became contaminated with lead in April of 2014 when the city switched its drinking water from Lake Huron water treated at the Detroit water treatment plan to more corrosive and polluted Flint River water treated at the Flint water treatment plant.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services removed a poster from its website over the weekend advising Flint parents that bathing children is safe despite elevated levels of lead.
The Flint water scandal has also caught the attention of the White House.
“I have a degree of responsibility”, Snyder says, “And that’s why we’re tried to be prudent about taking actions to address where those problems were and what those issues were”. A recent preliminary report from a task force appointed by Snyder placed most of the blame on the state Department of Environmental Quality, which failed to require the addition of anticorrosive chemicals to the water. But Snyder says it could be weeks before the decision is made as to whether to seek the federal help.
The state helped pay to return Flint to the Detroit water system and for filters.
“We know that we have kids that have been impacted by this, impacted in a negative way”, she said. A third FEMA liaison officer arrived Saturday, a state police official said.
Said the state will look for new opportunities to expand assistance to Flint, including economic and community development, education, and “whatever else we can do”.
On Sunday, Snyder spokesman Dave Murray said once the initial response phase is over, state officials will work with the federal government on what additional resources may be available.
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Lead can cause permanent brain damage, leading to behavior problems and learning disabilities. He was the one who rammed the “emergency manager” law through the MI state legislature.
