Gov. Rick Snyder has activated the Michigan National Guard to aid water distribution efforts in Flint and is requesting support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Members of the Guard are expected to start arriving in the city Wednesday. “And I want all MI citizens to know that we will learn from this experience, because Flint is not the only city that has an aging infrastructure”. More than 100,000 people are affected in Flint and some surrounding areas.
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Snyder declared an emergency in Flint last week, three months after his office was presented with tests showing that numerous city’s children had elevated levels of lead in their blood.
Michigan’s Republican governor said: “As we work to ensure that all Flint residents have access to clean and safe drinking water, we are providing them with the direct assistance they need”. Lead exposure can cause learning disabilities and behavioural problems in children.
That was when Flint’s state-appointed emergency manager made a decision to switch the city’s water supply from Detroit’s system to the Flint River.
Samuel Smith is happy to receive a case of bottled water and a new water filter at his home on Mallery St.in Flint, Mich., as volunteers accompanied by Michigan State Police and Gennessee County Sheriff’s Deputies bring residents water filters and bottled water on Tuesday Jan 12, 2016. “I’m responsible for the entire state and our operations, but there are many other good things going on, and we’re working hard to recover from the situation in terms of doing the right thing”. The city got its tap water from the Flint River, but residents complained about the smell, taste and appearance.
But the river water wasn’t treated properly, a state spokeswoman told ABC News in an earlier interview, so it drew lead from the pipes into the water supply.
The director of that agency resigned last month. Reimbursing Flint residents for the money they’ve paid for poison water just needs to be part of the massive bill the state tallies for its own negligence in this crisis.
Officials announced over the weekend that water, filters and replacement cartridges will be distributed from five city fire stations.
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A public museum in Flint has commissioned a traveling exhibit on the science and history of the city’s water system in response to the ongoing crisis. Over the next year and a half, a series of public announcements and troubling disclosures, many of them first reported by investigative journalist Curt Guyette, described Flint’s deteriorating water quality and growing public dismay.
