National Guard leaders arrive in Flint for briefing on water crisis

“The Michigan National Guard is trained and ready to assist the citizens of Flint”.

Flint residents have filed a federal lawsuit accusing the city and state of endangering their health.

Flint’s crisis is the third time during the administration of Republican Gov. Rick Snyder that decisions about water supply and water quality at the most senior levels of state government have put state residents in harm’s way.

Last week, Snyder declared a state of emergency in response to high levels of lead in Flint’s water after the city redirected Flint’s water supply from Detroit Water’s Lake Huron source, a safe and tested drinking source, to the Flint River in 2014. In December, Snyder apologized for the toxic water and accepted resignations of several officials.

In even minuscule proportions, lead can wreak havoc on a child’s nervous system, causing a host of behavioral issues and lower IQs.

As a result, water resource teams, including MI state police and other state personnel, started distributing bottled water, water filters, replacement cartridges and testing kits to residents.

The city realized savings of about $4 million annually by using the Flint River, according to The Associated Press.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it has received Michigan’s request for a disaster declaration in Flint. And those bills have not stopped coming or been reduced since state and local officials acknowledged the water is unsafe to drink without filtering.

Flint has since returned to Detroit’s system for its water, but officials remain concerned that damage to the pipes caused by the Flint River means that lead could continue to have an effect.

Snyder’s office said it is asking FEMA to coordinate with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Army Corps of Engineers.

Guard members are expected to begin arriving as early as Wednesday.

On the Flint water crisis, Snyder said the request for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency wasn’t delayed, it was part of the normal process in declaring an emergency.

“We’re not talking water from the islands of Fiji or the springs of Poland or the ancient underwater kingdom of Aquafina”, Wilmore said.

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

“The goal is to get to every household in Flint, in terms of making sure they have an opportunity for a filter, for blood tests, for what they need in terms of water to be successful while we go through this period, until we have a long term solution”, he said.

“I take it as a serious issue; the Flint water situation”, Snyder said in Lansing.

“It is the state’s ultimate responsibility to act and make it right”, said Rep. Dan Kildee, a Democrat who also represents the Flint area.