Rick Snyder for an extension of the free bottled water to her city after the Republican governor on Friday ended the program.
Snyder spokeswoman Anna Heaton said Tuesday the governor would meet with Weaver “when his schedule allows.” The state said it plans to close four remaining water bottle distribution centers when supplies are exhausted — which is expected to be this week — following 21 months of state testing that showed lead water levels that are within federal standards.
Weaver said she worries that lead “particulates can get shaken loose” and seep into the water system during construction and water service line replacement efforts.
Lead leached from the city’s aging water lines after Flint switched to corrosive Flint River water in 2014 and the state’s environmental regulators failed to insist on adding anti-corrosion chemicals to the drinking water.
“I think it was a bad decision to cut it abruptly like that, and once the water is gone it’s gone,” she said.
The governor is done (next year).
He could have done it until he’s out of office.” Michigan Department of Environmental Quality spokeswoman Tiffany Brown said mid-day Tuesday that all Flint water stations still had bottled water.
“The state is not leaving Flint, it is continuing to pour resources into the city to help it move forward.” The school lead testing has been underway, Weaver said.
“I understand their apprehension,” Meekhof said of Flint residents, “but I think if they’ve got scientific evidence that the water is meeting the quality standard, that’s a good thing.” He added: “I’d go there and drink the water.” But Attorney General Bill Schuette said in a statement “it seems to me that bottled water distribution in Flint should continue until lead pipes have been replaced and trust in government has been restored.” Schuette, a Republican who is running for governor, is prosecuting several state officials criminally for the Flint crisis and 2014-2015 Legionnaires’ disease outbreak.
“I have more information than probably anybody in Flint, and I don’t trust these people that lied to me to my face,” Ananich said of state regulators and officials who had initially downplayed concerns of Flint water quality.