MI governor under pressure amid Flint water crisis

Water crisis… Cher is donating water to the residents of Flint, Michigan, as the city struggles with a drinking water crisis linked to lead contamination.

The White House also said the Federal Emergency Management Agency will coordinate all disaster relief efforts to “alleviate the hardship and suffering” on residents.

But in a series of tweets following the debate, Snyder fired back at the criticism, touting efforts to provide cases of bottled water and filters to residents since officials declared a state of emergency.

The problem is that after Flint switched its water source to the Flint River, highly corrosive water drew lead from the city’s aging pipes.

Local and state-level declarations of emergency were made byFlint Mayor Karen Weaver and Gov. Rick Snyder in December and January, respectively. The state of MI, however, applied the wrong standards for governing drinking water, resulting in a system that did not properly control corrosion. Critics say that state officials knew for months that the water supply was unsafe before Snyder declared a state of emergency and sought help from Washington.

There’s no estimate on the cost of the long-term health effects on Flint residents who drank lead-tainted water for more than a year.

“We need the President of the United States here”, said Moore, who stood by about 200 protesters staged outside city hall Saturday.

“We announced coordination with FEMA days before and were busy helping the people of Flint on Thursday, not watching political talk shows”, Snyder chief of staff Jarrod Agen said Sunday night in an email.

After reading about Flint’s plight-more than 100,000 people have been consuming tained water since 2014-Cher contacted her friend Brad Horwitz, an investor in the spring water company Icelandic Glacial. “If the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would’ve been action”.

Authorities and volunteers have already been distributing free water, filters and other supplies.

Cher has been following the crisis in Flint for some time now, and on social media, she’s been an outspoken critic of Gov. Rick Snyder’s involvement in the crisis.

Michigan’s Attorney, Bill Schuette, had said he would investigate the water crisis to see whether any state laws were violated.