One month later and just two weeks before she testifies in front of that same House Oversight Committee, McCarthy was making a commitment to the people of Flint and the country: a fix needs to be in place now and this should never happen again. The Flint administration’s delayed response to the water contamination has triggered outrage in the region and led to calls of Snyder’s resignation. Edwards and a team of students and researchers helped to blow the whistle when Flint residents complained that something was wrong with the water soon after the April 2014 switch to the Flint River as a water source. Let me say this very clearly: “Our tests show that NSF-certified filters are working, even at high lead levels”, McCarthy said. After denying it for months, state officials acknowledged last fall that water reaching some homes and schools was contaminated with lead.
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Blackout for Human Right’s #JusticeForFlint said Tuesday about 2,000 people attended the event. Coogler directed the film “Creed”.
The fundraiser held Sunday Oscar night was attended by Coogler, director Ava DuVernay, singer Janelle Monae and other celebrities.
Researchers from Wayne State University will be conducting testing to see if their is a link between the change in Flint’s water system and public health concerns.
McCarthy, who on Tuesday visited Flint for a second time, said the pipes are recoating with a phosphate barrier that prevents lead from leaching into the drinking water.
Of 423 sites tested recently, lead concentration in the water at 37 sites exceeded the federal government’s action level of 15 parts per billion. Corrosive water from the river leached lead from old water lines into some home.
The results from so-called sentinel sites will help authorities decide when Flint residents can resume using unfiltered water. Of those, eight sites had lead readings above 100 parts per billion, according to a statement from Governor Rick Snyder’s office.
“It was really powerful to be back home and to learn from Flint residents, and learn from those leaders about what they’re doing now, it was a privilege to be able to do that”, she said.
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Schools with high levels of lead in their water may be a particularly critical problem because of the nature of lead exposure.
