A lead-poisoning crisis in Flint, Michigan, which dates back to April 2014, has forced Gov. Rick Snyder to call in the National Guard to hand out bottled water and filters.
Genetha Campbell carries free water being distributed at the Lincoln Park United Methodist Church in Flint.
Paul Sancya / AP
The governor of Michigan has activated the National Guard in order to hand out bottled water and filters in Flint, where a lead-poisoning crisis has forced residents to avoid the tap water.
Gov. Rick Snyder declared a state of emergency last week in Flint after a test of 2,200 blood tests turned up 43 children with elevated lead in their blood, NBC News reported. Lead is known to cause permanent mental and physical disabilities.
Only 2% of Flint's population has been tested, even though state health officials urged children under the age of 6 to be checked.
The state has been criticized for its slow response to the crisis. It took five days after the emergency was declared for officials to hand out bottled water, according to NBC News.
Snyder held a press conference on Monday to notify citizens of Flint he was asking for federal assistance.
"I have a degree of responsibility," Snyder acknowledged.
The Flint River
Rebecca Cook / Reuters
The problem started in April 2014 when Flint stopped paying Detroit to use water from Lake Huron and switched over to water from the nearby Flint River in an attempt to save money. The new water immediately started to corrode the pipes as it was much saltier and lead began leaching into the system.
Emails obtained by Virginia Tech revealed that the governor's office was aware of the risk as far back as six months ago. The chief of staff wrote Flint's residents were "getting blown off" by the state.
Snyder claims he did not know about the high levels of lead until a test on Oct. 1 showed such results. The governor said officials started taking action the next day, but blamed the three-month period until an emergency was declared to protocol.
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Director Dan Wyant resigned over the poisoning at the end of December after a state investigation found his department had failed to treat the river water and had ignored the community's concerns.
Flint has now switched back to a water stream from Detroit, but the risk of exposure to lead continues to be a concern, the Associated Press reported.
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1PVWobJ
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