Flint firm starts work to find city’s lead water pipes

The governor and his agency heads who caused the sudden appearance of lead and other toxins in the water that the families of Flint drank and showered in for a year and a half are even more disgusting.

If consumed, lead can cause developmental delays and learning disabilities. He’s faced criticism and protests, but has said he’s focusing on resolving the crisis.

Residents of Flint, where more than 40 percent live below the poverty line, were granted some relief from the hefty water bills with a circuit court ruling in August that the city had to cut the rate it charged for water service by a third, finding a 2011 rate hike to have been illegal.

The federal government is giving $500,000 to two health centers that are treating and testing Flint residents exposed to the lead-tainted water.

Gov. Rick Snyder reacts while answering questions during a press conference on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016, at Rowe Professional Services in Flint, Mich. Snyder announced next steps to identify and repla… The EPA says it urged a quicker state and local response.

“This is a man-made problem and I hope and pray that the one made this problem is punished for it, because there’s no way in this attractive world that they should have did that to we poor people, we poor, black people”, said Lawston.

If a group of lawyers and Flint residents have their way, a class-action lawsuit will emerge as the solution to go after government officials responsible for the devastating water crisis. Residential customers would still have to pay for water used to flush toilets or do laundry.

An extra $2 million is set aside to help replace the lead pipes in Flint. He said he wanted the water service line replacements to start quickly but not so fast that the repairs might lead to other troubles.

During the training exercise next week, the Lansing public works department will demonstrate its technology for removing and replacing lead pipes with new copper pipes in half the time and at half the cost of traditional methods, according to the mayor.

“We’re committed to the people of Flint and the top priority is ensuring people have access to safe water”, Gov. Snyder said. Sadly, there have since been numerous high-profile cases of contamination, such as in Toledo, Ohio, in 2014, where agricultural runoff and crumbling infrastructure led to an algal bloom in Lake Erie that made the city’s drinking water unsafe.

Environmental regulators in Snyder’s administration repeatedly downplayed the threat until Flint doctors last fall pounded the table with results of lead tests from children.

In 2015, a typical household in Flint paid $864.32 a year for the undrinkable water, says the report authored by Food and Water Watch.