The Democrats’ seventh presidential debate plays out Sunday night in a city that has come to represent all that’s wrong with government. For 18 months, corrosive water from the Flint River leached lead into the drinking supply of Flint, Michigan, an impoverished, majority-black city whose local government was under state control.
State and local officials still aren’t doing enough to fix problems that caused lead pollution of drinking water in Flint, Michigan—including having enough qualified workers to make sure the city water system functions adequately, a federal regulator said Friday.
Newly hired outside engineers have been given a month to find Flint’s underground lead water pipes, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said Wednesday, saying he wants service line replacements to begin promptly but not so quickly that it causes other problems.
One lawsuit seeks to replace lead-leaching water lines at no cost to customers. Another seeks money for thousands of Flint residents who unwittingly drank toxic water. A third complaint has been filed on behalf of people with Legionnaires’ disease.
Erin Brockovich, the water-safety activist who was immortalized in the eponymous film starring Julia Roberts, had her say on the water scandal in Flint, Michigan on the Bill Maher show.
Government officials tangled on Wednesday over who was to blame for the crisis in Flint, Michigan, that allowed lead-contaminated water to flow to thousands of residents at a combative congressional hearing that devolved into a partisan fight over witnesses and no-shows.
Legislative leaders said Wednesday they are open to spending $30 million to help pay the water bills of Flint residents facing an emergency over a lead-contaminated water supply, though a top Democrat said the proposed state funding should be doubled.