Volunteers help get filters, bottled water around Flint Leonard N. Fleming, The
Detroit News Flint ' As the Flint water crisis draws national attention,
city and state officials announced an initiative Sunday that will put bottled
water, filters and water testing kits in the hands of residents as a federal
agency and local labor unions handed out thousands of bottled water. State
officials on Sunday said that water resource teams would begin dispensing water
and other resources door to door. City officials are working with the state as
well as Michigan State Police and Genesee County Sheriff's Office in the
effort. Gov. Rick Snyder on Tuesday declared a state of emergency for Genesee
County, setting the groundwork for seeking federal relief, and his chief
medical executive said last week that Flint's water is not safe to drink
without a filter. The crisis sprang from actions of the city, under state
control
and in an effort to save money, switching from Detroit's water system to the
corrosive Flint River from April to October 2014 without proper checks for
the lead levels. Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said Sunday that she understands many
residents want the governor to be held accountable in the contamination
crisis but she said her focus is on ensuring clean water in the city, which she
said could take as much as $1.5 billion to replace the city's lead-leaching
water pipes. 'I do know that we have investigation going on and so I'm trying
to let that process play out because it's going to show where the buck stops
and who helped get the buck there,' said Weaver after a news conference at the
city's main fire station, which that has become one of five water resource
sites in Flint. 'I'm really looking forward to seeing that because we want
everyone to be held accountable. Weaver said the resignation of the director
of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is a start following the
water crisis. The resignations in late December of DEQ Director Dan Wyant
and spokesman Brad Wurfel followed the release last month of the findings of a
task force assembled by Snyder that largely faulted DEQ workers. 'It will
be two years in April, and that will be two years too long,' Weaver said. 'And
we didn't deserve for this to happen here in Flint and we know it happened
under the emergency manager. When asked if Snyder is taking city officials
seriously, she said, 'He has to take us seriously. My focus is to make sure
we're doing a smooth, coordinated effort. I can sit here and be angry but that
doesn't help me get people what they need. Snyder met with Weaver Thursday
at his office in Lansing and emphasized the need to create a 'very close
partnership' with Flint's new mayor. The Federal Emergency Management Agency had
three officials from its Chicago office deliver bottled water to residents,
state officials said. United Auto Workers locals from Detroit and Flint brought
more than 5,000 bottles of water to the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan for
distribution to water resource sites around the city. 'We understand the need
for basic water rights,' said John Hatline, the UAW Local shop District #8, who
along with six others from Metro Detroit brought the water. 'The state
has known about this for a while. And the children here are affected by the
water. We want to give back. Kelly Belcher, marketing manager of the food bank,
said the water will be distributed to 130 agencies in the city and that
volunteers and other donors are expected to bring in water all week. 'They need
it for cooking, they need it for drinking,' she said. 'I don't believe they are
using the bottled water for bathing but even the water that they are bathing
in is causing rashes. The demand for water is very, very high. It's higher than
this city can handle. Hatline was blunt in his criticism of the Snyder
administration, which is receiving much of the blame for its slow response to
the crisis. 'Never in my life did I think I'd see something like this,' said
Hatline of Macomb Township. 'I don't understand why this state and this
government has been dropping the ball with this water situation. They need to
correct
the problem. This is people's lives here that we are talking about. The Snyder
administration has been dogged for weeks about its response to the crisis.
Emails released last week show delays and bad information prompted Michigan
officials to give false assurances to Flint residents about tap water lead
levels. The lead story prompted celebrity Cher to tweet that 'Gov. of Michigan
is a murderer' and accused Snyder of deciding to 'poison the water. MSNBC's
Rachel Maddow covered the issue and Newsweek magazine called the contamination
'one of the nastiest cases of toxic discharge in 2015. Flint resident and
director Michael Moore called for Snyder's arrest on charges of corruption and
assault. Donna Miller of Local 22, which also helped bring the water up
from Metro Detroit, said clean water is about 'basic human rights. 'Water is a
basic need. It's a travesty what's going on,' she said, adding the governor
should be held accountable. Vivian Kelley, 66, of Flint and her daughter April
Kelley, 50, stopped by one of the five Flint firehouses for bottled water.
To shower, they run the water on hot for more than five minutes and even that
doesn't give them comfort. 'You have to lotion down really good,' Vivian
Kelley said. 'I haven't had many problems but some people have. I'm one of the
fortunate ones. It's difficult to think that the water that you pay these
astronomical water bills for, you can't drink it. That's awful. April Kelley
said the issue has been difficult for the elderly. 'They can't afford to go
out and buy cases and cases of water in large amounts like that,' she said.
'And they are getting sick. These people (in state government), it's no big
deal to them. All they're worrying about is how they are looking in the public
eye. Sandy Ireland, 37, of Flint who stopped by a firehouse to pick up a
water filter for her home, said the water was so bad that her pit bull took one
whiff and stayed away from it. Harvey Hollins, Snyder's director of Urban
and Metropolitan Initiatives, said he understands the residents' fears but that
the state has worked 'very aggressively' to set up an operation and partnership
with county and city officials to address resident's water needs.
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