Snyder greenlights group to address Flint water crisis

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is providing Flint with bottled water and other supplies amid the city’s water crisis, Snyder’s office said on Sunday.

Flint’s drinking water became contaminated with lead in April 2014 after the city switched its supply source and treatment while under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager. Failing to treat the water sends corrosive river water through local pipes, it starts to eat through plumbing, and the result is lead poisoning.

Risky lead levels in drinking water in Flint, Michigan.

As of last month, the state had identified 43 people with elevated lead levels in their blood.

Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Interim Director Keith Creagh gave no timeline for when the tap water would be OK to drink, saying additional testing is needed. Snyder said Monday he wanted to “push on (state) departments” after hearing concerns from the community, and the agencies “reaffirmed they didn’t believe there was an issue”.

Over the weekend, for example, the editorial board of the Detroit Free Press turned its attention directly to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R), who’s facing calls for his arrest from protestors, comparing his handling of the Flint crisis to George W. Bush’s handling of Hurricane Katrina.

If you made me choose, I’d say what Snyder did was worse.

“This is a crisis”, Snyder said.

The Governor declared an emergency on January 5 to put in place distribution of water, water filters and water tests for residents.

“These folks are scared and anxious about the health impacts and they are basically getting blown off by us (as a state we’re just not sympathizing with their plight)”, Muchmore wrote in the email, according to journalists Stephanie Gosk, Kevin Monahan, Tim Sandler and Hannah Rappleye. That was intended as a temporary step while a pipeline was built from Lake Huron.

“We still want to see people continue to use filters, though, and bottled water”, Snyder said. Weaver, a clinical psychologist elected a year ago largely on a promise to improve the water, praised Snyder for his emergency declaration, even as she cautioned that major commitments of time and money would be needed.

Deputy State Director of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Capt. Chris Kelenske says “residents can pick-up all of the resources they need to ensure their drinking water is safe”.