Here’s the problem: When the state switched the city’s water supply to the Flint River, it did not properly treat the water, and the water corroded the pipes, leaching lead and heavy metal into the drinking water supply.
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The administrative neglect that encouraged people to keep drinking this filthy water after they complained about stinky brown liquid pouring from their faucets has sparked nationwide outrage and calls for Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to resign. Mays (pictured) says despite her concerns and those of other Flint residents, it wasn’t until January of 2015 that notification arrived stating chemicals that are a byproduct of disinfection were in the water.
Another class action lawsuit was filed today in connection to the Flint water crisis. Last week, officials said almost 9 percent of sites tested for lead continued to exceed accepted limits, and that residents still should not drink unfiltered water. The governor said he only learned of the severity of the lead problem in October, about 18 months after the city began using the Flint River.
Congress has delayed a bill that would have provided aid for Flint, Michigan, which has been devastated by a water crisis.
No level of lead in the human body is considered safe, especially in children.
It names several state and city government officials, and a few engineering companies that were hired to help switch Flint’s water source.
For months, nearly no one would listen to residents’ fears about their odd-looking drinking water.
“There’s that psychological association that we can’t get around, and in order for us to build trust back in the government, and trust back in the water, we’ve got to have new pipes”, she said.
“I’m imploring President Obama to consider Flint, Michigan, a national disaster starting today”, he said. In Flint and other cities, people turn on their tap and are exposed to lead, a substance that causes severe health problems.
But while the water bottles pile up, the money to replace all of Flint’s lead pipes is lacking, leaving a permanent fix for the city’s deteriorated water lines still far from reach.
The lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of MI is the first seeking class- action status with claims brought under the Safe Drinking Water Act, according to Hunter Shkolnik, a NY attorney who says his firm has been retained by 900 individuals in Flint. Although they denied cheating they began a program of replacing the lead pipes after Virgil Bernero became mayor in 2005. Now, it seems, everyone is listening – and sending truckloads of bottled water, water filters and baby wipes, and cash donations and television news crews that set up along Saginaw Street downtown.
City and state officials are pointing the blame at each other.
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When told about the poll results, a spokesman for the American Water Works Association, which represents water professionals, said the “vast majority” of water utilities in the country surpass federal and state standards.
