Water crisis spurs calls to change MI open-records law

“We’ve had a city in the United States of America where the population, which is poor in many ways and majority African-American, has been drinking and bathing in lead-contaminated water”.

State employees at an office in Flint, Michigan, have been drinking from coolers of purified water for a year – starting around the time the city’s residents were being assured the water was safe to drink.

In the midst of a roiling public health crisis over toxic water, Michael Moore, the academy award-winning documentarian and native Flint, Michigan resident, called on public support to hold state officials there accountable, and provide a respite for struggling Flint residents. In total the crisis has cost the state of MI almost $39 million dollars and the loss of 10 souls.

A Chicago firefighter exceeded his own expectations this afternoon collecting thousands of gallons of water for the people of Flint, Michigan.

On Friday, Snyder said that both the federal EPA and state Department of Environmental Quality “missed it”. “We have a situation where people can not drink the water coming out of the tap”.

There is also funding to hire outside experts to assess whether Flint’s water system infrastructure must be replaced or repaired.

“There was a failure at the local, state and federal level”, the governor said.

It took a team effort to get so many bottles of water to those in need, and Pastor Dareus Pridgen says he worked with Robert Rich, with Roar Logistics, who helped secure trucks to transport the water.

Flint residents have been told to drink only filtered or bottled water because of lead contamination in the city’s supply.

“We’re ensuring that our residents not only have access to bottled water, we’re actually delivering bottled water”, Hayman said. “Our (Evanston’s) water is tested regularly and we don’t cover up the tests or try to manipulate them”.

While under state financial management, the city switched its water source to the Flint River but without controlling corrosion.

Gov. Rick Snyder told The Associated Press Friday he didn’t know anything about the water purchases.

Health officials will continue to test and treat the water, but warn it could be months before it is safe to drink.