What We Know: Congress to consider help for Flint water

Progress Michigan, a progressive group critical of the governor, released emails showing that Snyder was taking care of his own workers, while telling Flint residents not to worry about the tap water.

Members of the Michigan National Guard load bottled water at a fire station, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016 in Flint, Mich. The Michigan Legislature voted Thursday to direct another $28 million to address Flint’s water emergency, allocating money for bottled water, medical assessments and other costs in the city struggling with a lead-contaminated supply.

Murray said one water cooler was placed on each floor and next to public drinking fountains.

“These documents show that like we’ve suspected, the governor and his administration likely knew that there was an issue and certainly acted to protect state employees in the Flint building, while they ignored the concerns of the people of flint”, Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan, told ATTN: in a phone call.

Flint switched its water source from Detroit to the Flint River in April 2014, which is now known to have caused lead to leach into the city’s tap water.

Cummings and Lawrence asked Snyder to deliver the requested documents to them by February 11. “That’s 102,000 citizens times 200 bottles of water – which equals 20.4 million 16 oz. bottles of water per day, every day, for the next year or two until this problem is fixed”. Tests are affordable, but those at the highest risk, such as residents in older homes, need to be aware of the need to check their water, Swistock said. The state continued to provide the coolers of purified water, right up to today, because “there were more findings as we went along”, Buhs said.

“A lot of work is being done to even understand where the lead service lines even are”, he said.

“It’s time to stand up and recognize that things could have been done differently”, Snyder said before signing the aid legislation. The TTHM level in Flint rose to the level of an alert, though, and prompted the state to supply bottled water to its employees.

Snyder said the extension ensures Flint residents will have access to bottled water, filters, and testing kits, while long-term solutions are sought. There also is funding to hire outside experts to assess whether Flint’s water system infrastructure must be replaced or repaired.

The Board of State Canvassers on Thursday rejected petitions to recall Snyder over his handling of Flint’s lead-contaminated water.

Lawrence said, “the American people deserve a full accounting of this man-made disaster”. Between 6,000 and 12,000 people have presented with high levels of lead in the blood and have, as a result, experienced serious health problems.

Gov. Snyder signed the bill and legislators present, including House Speaker Kevin Cotter and Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, joined him on stage.

For Asheville, not having lead water pipes is a key preventive measure.