In theory, there’s nothing particularly wrong with getting drinking and bathing water from a nearby river; plenty of communities across the country already do that. “However, now that the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice are in the initial stages of a serious investigation, Snyder is acting as his previous corporate tyranny agenda is some kind of ‘an innocent accident’ threatening the lives of MI residents; now and in the future”. Because exposure to lead can cause permanent neurological damage, Dr. Hanna-Attisha said, “In five years, these kids are going to have cognition problems”. Many residents have called for state money to replace the city’s old pipe infrastructure – which the mayor has said could cost up to $1.5 billion – and a fund to address any developmental impact on children.
Advertisement
So the city started taking its water directly from the Flint River in 2014 – celebrating its break from Detroit with a countdown and a toast, Michigan Radio reported.
“Since Flint started providing us with water from the Flint River, my water has turned bluish-green from all the copper in the water, the levels of lead have quadrupled and we have been notified about high levels of toxic chemicals”, said Flint resident Melissa Mays.
Snyder eventually sought $6 million from the state legislature to cover the cost of reconnecting Flint to Detroit’s water supply and the switch was completed in October. More than 80 percent of Flint’s students qualify for free or reduced-lunch prices, an indicator of poverty in K-12 education. Because of the lasting damage left behind by the corrosive water, there are still concerns of contamination and at least 30 children and 13 adults have tested positive for unsafe levels for lead between October to December, according to Dr. Eden Wells, Michigan’s chief medical executive. “We implore you to do your duty”, says the petition.
“This is from – this is not a third world country”, she said.
Three liaison officers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are in MI assisting state officials after Gov. Rick Snyder declared a state of emergency in the crisis Tuesday.
“It is the state’s ultimate responsibility to act and make it right”. Mays, who has helped organize protests and been among the most outspoken critics of the water situation, said she anxious about how the water might be affecting her young sons’ health.
Marc Edwards, a professor at Virginia Tech who has been testing the water in Flint and obtained and provided the emails to NBC, told the station that if action was taken early on, the problem could have been fixed for as little as $100 a day.
The State Emergency Operations Center was activated this week following Snyder’s emergency declaration.
MI hasn’t asked for any federal assistance yet.
Advertisement
“They’re not ideological warriors, they’re technocrats who we thought, at a minimum, were the competent guys”, Todd said. “And for such a long time, the residents of the city said, ‘We do not have a voice'”.
