Michigan Senate OKs $28M more to address Flint water crisis

“Lead release into the water from the pipe depends on pH of the water and much more strongly on alkalinity of the water”. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) compared the Flint water crisis to natural disasters for which Congress has stepped in with emergency funding. The water crisis in Toledo.

Hand is chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Michigan Technological University and a board-certified civil engineering member of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers. It has been reported that necessary water treatment would have cost as little as $100 a day.

Liesel Gross, the Lehigh County Authority’s chief executive officer, said the agency is monitoring the situation in Flint, but that local water systems are dealing with a different challenge, in part due to local water chemistry.

“You have to work with local communities and the federal government, because you realize that people are depending on you”, Kasich said.

Residents of Flint, Mich. have been suffering for the past couple of years because their drinking water has been poisoned due to the state government’s incompetence. Lead was eventually leached into the water supply from lead pipes that run throughout the city.

Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, State Senator Tim Kennedy and State Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes appeared Thursday morning to drop off donations and to thank True Bethel Baptist Church leaders for hosting the bottled water drive.

The Colorado Springs branch of the NAACP and New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church in Fountain had already collected two full pallets of bottled water by midday on Thursday for the people of Flint, which has dealt with dangerously high levels of lead in the municipal water supply for more than two years.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Democrats on Thursday proposed up to $400 million in emergency federal aid to Flint, Michigan, half of what the state’s Republican governor says it will cost to replace and fix the city’s lead-contaminated pipes.

During his State of the State address last week, Snyder asked the Legislature to give quick approval to the $28 million for Flint and noted that he will be making additional requests for funding for the city.

With Snyder’s help, Flint switched from corrosive Flint River water back to the Detroit water system while a regional pipeline is built to Lake Huron.

If Flint still passes that test, it’s not very reassuring to think that the water in your home passes that test too.

It’s not clear how long the water coolers were made available-in other words, how long state employees drank bottled water while Flint residents drank lead-contaminated tap water.

The House is expected to send the legislation to Gov. Rick Snyder later Thursday. The water certainly helps the residents of Flint who can not drink the water pumped into their homes, the new question is what to do with the millions of plastic bottles that are about to become a whole new environmental problem for the region?

The bill requires the state of MI to match federal spending, dollar for dollar.

This is shocking information that clearly proves Flint is symptomatic of a larger problem in the state, and possibly the country.

Later, during a 50-minute town-hall style telephone call with almost 8,000 listeners, Snyder told a questioner about 200 Flint children with elevated blood-lead levels have been identified.

Gov. Rick Snyder has promised to set aside more funding for Flint in his upcoming budget proposal.

Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem and Platinum Equity partner Mark Barnhill will lead the effort.