Michigan Governor Activates National Guard Amid Drinking Water Crisis

The Michigan National Guard is helping distribute bottled water and water filters in the city of Flint after Governor Rick Snyder activated them yesterday.

Snyder has also sent a request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for federal help with the Flint water situation. Lead is known to cause permanent mental and physical disabilities.

The New York Times has reported that the National Guardsmen could hit the streets as early as Wednesday.

The water resource teams are among a number of relief efforts started in the wake of Republican Gov. Rick Snyder declaring an emergency last week.

Flint, about 60 miles (100 km) northwest of Detroit, returned to using Detroit water in October after tests found some children had elevated levels of lead in their blood and lead was found in higher-than-acceptable levels in the water. “And I want all MI citizens to know that we will learn from this experience, because Flint is not the only city that has an aging infrastructure”.

Just when you thought the good people of Flint could just go to the store to get bottled water, it turns out the 33-mile city doesn’t even have a grocery store.

While Snyder created and executed a plan to switch the city back to Detroit’s water system in October, the damage was already done as many children already are known to have been affected by the polluted water. The state failed to ensure treatment to prevent the new water from corroding the city’s aging pipes, many of which contain lead.

Flint, which originally took its water from Lake Huron through the Detroit water system, switched to the Flint River in April 2014 as part of cost-cutting measures while the city was undergoing a financial crisis that ended last spring.

Officials announced over the weekend that water, filters and replacement cartridges will be distributed from five city fire stations. Its executive director resigned December 29, but a Freedom of Information request from a Virginia Tech researcher revealed a July email from Snyder’s top aide, acknowledging that Flint residents were “basically getting blown off by us” in the state’s response to lead contamination problems.

“At the State of the Union tonight, I spoke to President Obama and reiterated my call for federal assistance due to the lack of a sufficient response from the state”, Kildee said in a late Tuesday statement. Flint residents, many of whom live at or below the poverty line, are still being billed for the water that’s poisoning their kids.