Genesee County board chair says no need to declare disaster in Flint

The mayor of Flint has declared a state of emergency, acknowledging that switches in the Michigan’s city’s water sourcing have caused high lead levels in drinking water.

Flint “has experienced a Manmade disaster [sic]”, Mayor Karen Weaver said in a statement on Monday. The World Health Organization (WHO) notes “neurological and [behavioral] effects of lead are believed to be irreversible”, and adds that children with elevated lead levels can suffer mental retardation, disruptive behavior, and even coma and death.

For the people of Flint, the results of the study were devastating – but not unexpected.

Weaver is seeking federal help in dealing with the crisis after scientists, city and county officials, and residents sounded the alarm.

But residents complained about the taste, smell and appearance of the water.

For months, protests and a petition did nothing to change the city’s water source. It was supposed to be an interim move, until a new water line to Port Huron is completed next year. The lawsuit links health conditions such as hair loss, vision loss, and depression to the city’s water.

Addressing these dangers, Flint residents in November filed a class action lawsuit against Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, as well as city, state, and numerous other officials, on behalf of tens of thousands of residents harmed by the “extreme toxicity of water pumped from the Flint River into their homes, schools, hospitals, workplaces, and public places”.

“False denials about the safety of the Flint River water…” On Tuesday the Federal Emergency Management Agency sent 28,000 liters of bottled water to the area.

It adds that the defendants “deliberately deprived” Flint residents of their 14th Amendment rights to “life, liberty and property” when they replaced safe drinking water “with what they knew to be a highly toxic alternative exclusively for fiscal purposes”.