Michigan National Guard Helps With Flint’s Water Crisis

On the long list of things that state officials should move swiftly to correct in Flint, the wiping away of this particular injustice in the city’s water crisis ought to rank near the top.

On Wednesday, Guard members began staffing five… The city has about 99,000 residents in an estimated 30,000 households.

The United Way of Genesee County is taking donations to pay for bottled water, filters and prevention efforts.

Flint’s water crisis began in 2014 when the city was cut out of Detroit’s water system, which is sourced by a treated supply from Lake Huron, and was forced to use the Flint River as a temporary source.

Snyder declared a state of emergency last week after blood tests found 43 children with elevated lead levels, NBC reports. “And I want all MI citizens to know that we will learn from this experience, because Flint is not the only city that has an aging infrastructure”.

Legionnaires’ disease is a type of pneumonia caused by bacteria that infect the lungs. “Flint residents are the victims in this crisis and they deserve a more urgent response equal to the gravity of this crisis”.

A comparative chart officials provided shows only 21 cases reported in all of 2012 and 2013.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Snyder has also sent a request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for federal help with the Flint water situation. FEMA appointed a disaster recovery coordinator to assist, spokesman Rafael Lemaitre said.

The American Red Cross has volunteers distributing water testing kits, water filters and bottled water at several locations.

On Tuesday, braving cold temperatures and 3ins (7.62cm) of snow, eight teams of volunteers fanned out across the city under the escort of state troopers and sheriff’s deputies to deliver bottled water, filters and lead test kits.

Flint police are warning people to be wary of scammers trying to prey on residents amid the city’s drinking water crisis.

It was the state’s Department of Environmental Quality that signed off on the city’s water treatment plan that didn’t add the proper chemicals to Flint’s water, and used the wrong federal regulations to monitor the city’s system after it made the switch to Flint River water. Exposure to lead can cause behavior problems and learning disabilities in children.

“We see the consequences of lead poisoning a lot later”, Hanna-Attisha, told ABC News last month.

Snyder’s executive order comes less than a week following his decision to join Flint Mayor Karen Weaver in declaring a state of emergency in the city.

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, a Democrat who represents Flint in the House of Representatives said: “It is the state’s ultimate responsibility to act and make it right”.