Flint switched its water source from Detroit to the Flint River in April 2014, which is now known to have caused lead to leach into the city’s tap water. He said he hopes to soon be able to specify the testing protocol for lead in water and how it has affected the people of Flint, but he refused to specify a timeline for a complete resolution. I used tap water to get my clothes ready daily and didn’t think twice about the steam my iron released.
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“We still have confidence in the filters”, said Mark Durno of the EPA. I’ve seen greenish and light brown water, but not the orange. Gov. Rick Snyder announced he’d give $1 million in water filters to residents, and police officers and pastors have been traveling door to door to distribute them, the Detroit Free Press reported.
According to a letter from Tim English, regional administrator for the USDA, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is “committed to assisting the State of MI in addressing the water crisis in Flint, particularly as it impacts children”.
Most citizens, upon learning of the extent of both the pollution and the official negligence in the depressed former factory town in central MI, have been asking: How could this happen in America in 2016? Some children’s blood has tested positive for lead, which has been linked to learning disabilities, lower IQ and behavioral problems.
The $28 million supplemental spending bill signed Friday by Snyder appropriated $957,000 the state health department to cover the requested WIC eligibility expansion, nutrition education and screening. Protesters have also been rallying outside Snyder’s residence, and there have been longshot efforts to recall him from office. In pledging again to fix the problem, he said, “how do you learn from things that didn’t go right to be even stronger and better for the long term?”
Critics blame Snyder and his administration for being slow to act on the crisis, after Flint residents began questioned the quality of their water shortly after the switch. “We have to boil water in order to take a bath”, said Flint resident, Melissa Harrison. “I was healthy”, Flint resident Melissa Mays said.
Blanks said that she knew the Raleigh community could help.
His spokesman, Dave Murray, told BuzzFeed News Friday that the bottled water consisted of a single water cooler on each floor of a government building. Because the water industry is a fraternal group that freely shares information, those in charge of meeting the Flint’s water needs could have avoided the current crisis by simply picking up the phone, Burlingame said.
Flint residents are now warned to drink only filtered or bottled water because of lead contamination. But Island water suppliers do dose the water with chlorine, Kelleher said, for disinfection purposes. Some cities still use the lead pipes because of the prohibitive cost of replacing them – Lansing, Mich., is spending about $42 million over 10 years to replace that city’s lead pipes.
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Complete coverage of the Flint water crisis in our special section.
