The lead contaminated water crisis in Flint, Michigan is receiving increased national attention—yet what the people of the Rust Belt city urgently need to receive is clean drinking water.
Republican Governor Rick Snyder on Thursday offered a second apology for the crisis, saying it’s an “unfortunate situation.” That problem, which began as the city was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager, has left 200 children below the age of six with confirmed elevated blood lead levels, spurred calls for Snyder’s ouster, and prompted filmmaker Michael Moore to say the governor has to go to jail, as he “effectively poisoned, not just some, but apparently ALL of the children in my hometown of Flint, Michigan.”
Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said Thursday that it would cost as much as $1.5 billion to fix the city’s drinking water infrastructure. Researchers at Virginia Tech have said that the problem—caused when Flint moved its water supply from the Detroit system to the Flint River without the proper corrosive controls—could have been fixed with as little as $100 a day.
Curt Guyette, investigative reporter for the ACLU of Michigan, told Democracy Now! on Friday that the switch, made in a supposed money-saving move, came with dangerous yet completely predictable results.
While the water was switched back to Detroit ‘s system in the fall, “the water is not safe in Flint,” MSNBC‘s Rachel Maddow pointed out Thursday.
“The city is in need of FEMA-like if not FEMA response,” she said.
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
Click Here: camiseta rosario central