Demand Clean Public Water for Flint!
On
Friday, April 6, Governor Snyder notified the Flint community through a
press release that the State of Michigan would no longer provide
bottled water once the existing supply ran out, despite continuing
concerns about water safety. As of Tuesday, April 10, the supply of
bottled water dried up, leaving residents scrambling to secure clean
water for drinking, cooking and other daily needs.
Contact Governor Snyder and Lieutenant Governor Calley to tell
them Flint needs bottled water until after all lead service lines are
replaced, and their accountability and transparency are necessary for
all of Michigan!
Lead service lines are
being replaced quickly when weather allows - and replacing the
remaining thousands of lead service lines will at least take until the
end of 2019. When the pipes are replaced, lead is released into the
water supply - potentially spiking lead levels for months after pipes
are replaced in neighborhoods housing tens of thousands of Flint
residents. There is no safe level of lead in drinking water, and effects
are especially dangerous for children and pregnant residents.
The
State of Michigan has not earned the public's trust in ensuring the
safety of Flint's tap water supply, and has evaded accountability for
addressing the water crisis it caused. Examples from 2018 include:
- State officials ignored repeated community demands for transparency about comprehensive water quality measures, including fluctuating levels of lead and bacteria-killing chlorine.
- Governor Snyder publicly discredited and intimidated researchers examining concerning bacteria levels in Flint point-of-use water filters, including by pulling research funding.
- Rich Baird, Governor Snyder's lead cabinet employee for the Flint water crisis response, stole a Flint-based researcher's proposal for a comprehensive school water testing program that would intentionally involve members of the school community to build trust in the water testing results. He commissioned an outside researcher to do a watered-down version of the program without a component to rebuild trust.
- During recent water testing of Flint school faucets, State officials changed the water sampling procedure mid-way through three rounds of testing, apparently to obtain desired results for lead levels in the water. These test results were used by the State to declare that the water crisis was over, which lead to the abrupt end of bottled water for Flint residents.
- Meanwhile, as Flint residents pay one of the highest drinking water rates in the nation, the State nearly doubled the amount of water that Nestle can extract from Michigan to bottle and sell for profit, despite more thank 85,000 public comments against this move. Privatizing Michigan water is unjust for all of Michigan residents and signals a worrying trend in our state government.
