Federal government denies Flint supplement nutrition funding

If ever there was a case of government failing its citizens, it’s the current water crisis surrounding the town of Flint, Michigan. Since the financially struggling city broke away from the Detroit water system a year ago, residents have been unhappy with the smell, taste and appearance of water from the city’s river as they await the completion of a pipe to Lake Huron.

Authorities told residents of Flint, Michigan, recent tests indicated lead levels in the water supply remain high – so high, in fact, the water filters given out by the city might not be effective.

MDEQ Director Keith Creagh, who took over after his predecessor resigned in December due to fallout from the water crisis, told the newspaper his department would outline the plan on Monday to federal EPA officials.

Flint switched its water source from Detroit’s water system to the Flint River in 2014 to save money.

For now, Creagh reminded all Flint residents that they should have their water tested for lead. “Mistakes were made…. We’re going to solve them”.

Unlike smaller cities like Flint, Philadelphia has it’s own laboratory in which it can test the quality of the city’s water.

People gather to distribute and gather bottled water for consumption, cooking and bathing on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016, outside of Berston Field House in Flint, Mich. Water toxicity experts estimate that roughly 10 per cent of Canadians are at risk of being exposed to lead through their drinking water as Americans in Flint, Mich., grapple with an ongoing drinking water scandal.

Shumpert says many of her family members live in Flint.

Gagnon said lead service lines connected to copper city pipes are more likely to direct unhealthy material into the water as a result of the chemical reaction between the two metals. Flint is now living on bottled water, which doesn’t come cheap, and the longer medical treatment is delayed, the more costly it will ultimately become.

“We have a crisis happening”, Snyder said.

Flint is an extreme reminder that politicians and those they are beholden to need to learn, particularly in a presidential election year, that the poor can not be abused and ignored.

The EPA says the now approved filters only filter lead up to 150 parts per billion, but the highest reading of lead measured from the 3900 samples was 4000 per billion.

Moore laid out five points, among them retribution for those he blames for the problem and a combination of state and federal responses. FOX59 teamed up with local partners to put on a water for Flint campaign to assist those people living without clean drinking water.

Tests began in the last week in December, and 26 sites out of about 4,000 showed the higher levels. The insufficiently treated water corroded pipes, leading to elevated lead levels doctors fear could hinder children’s development.

“I just want to note there is a symbiotic relationship between science and the public and if that is ignored and not nurtured we are going to enter a new dark age”, Edwards said.