Gov. Rick Snyder pledges to fix Flint water crisis

One of the great public health tragedies of our time.

The Governor of MI has apologized to the people of the city of Flint after exposing 100,000 if the city’s residents to lead poisoning in its water supply.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has called on Snyder to resign. Like many other residents of Flint, Vasquez has had to work around the unsanitary water by changing his showering routine and drinking from water bottles.

Nearly all his other priorities, except the mounting financial problems in Detroit’s state-overseen school district, were shelved from the speech due to the crisis. This switch from was meant to be temporary until the supply could transition to a new regional water authority, the Karegnondi system. Even small levels of lead intake can have damaging, with irreversible impacts on the mental and physical health of children.

What were the effects of the contamination?

Flint residents – 57 percent of whom are African-American and 41 percent of whom have incomes below federal poverty guidelines – immediately complained about the color, smell and taste of the water.

This is not to say that every municipal-owned water system can’t operate smartly and safely – as publicly owned water systems locally in Cedar Grove, Putnam County and St. Albans show.

Within four months of the changeover, tests of local samples detected fecal coliform bacteria as well as alarming levels of the potentially harmful chemical compound trihalomethanes (THMs), a byproduct of chlorine.

Meanwhile, there’s been a spike in Legionnaires’ disease, a water-borne illness.

Why was the water so bad? In 47 percent of the cases, the water source at the primary residence was from the Flint River. Flint had purchased the Lake Huron water from Detroit, which treated it for distribution. Because the state failed to require the use of corrosion controls, lead leached into the water from pipes and fixtures. In adults, exposure to toxic levels of lead can harm the kidneys.

Hillary Clinton and fellow Democrats think they have found a winning political issue: the lack of clean tap water in Flint, Michigan.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician at the city-funded Hurley Children’s Hospital, is credited as being the doctor who first brought the problem to the state’s attention.

The lead contamination – which can lead to behavior problems and learning disabilities in children and kidney ailments in adults – has left Flint residents unable to drink unfiltered tap water.

Earnest says state and local officials are responsible for managing the response.

The senate republican leader wants to focus on solutions, not blame.

Snyder vowed to provide long term support for Flint.

Snyder dovetailed that discussion with comments on their ongoing efforts to improve the infrastructure in the state, including the plumbing in urban areas.

While Governor Snyder is promising to do everything he can to solve the water crisis in Flint, there are some things that cannot be undone.

Last week, Michigan’s attorney general opened an investigation into whether any laws were broken.

Obama signed an emergency declaration Saturday that could get Flint up to $5 million in federal funds.

Flint, Michigan, is facing a man made public health crisis. That’s why 500 more residents joined a class action lawsuit yesterday seeking damages.

What’s being done to fix this?

Criticism of the state and federal response has grown in recent days over the crisis in financially strapped Flint about 60 miles northwest of Detroit. Wantwaz Davis, a City Council member, said his wife had rashes and burns on her skin after drinking the new water.

The debacle in Flint began after the governor-appointed emergency manager in 2013 inked a deal to stop buying water from Detroit in order to save money. The state is now handing out filters and bottled water with the help of the National Guard.