Elon Musk has had a rough summer, largely of his own making, but he still found time to honor a commitment to clean water in Flint, Michigan, he had made on Twitter on July 11, 2018.
While it seemed to be an idle response to a Twitter user using an obvious attempt at reverse psychology—”NO WAY you could help”—Musk took it seriously.
He went several steps further, however.
On Oct. 5, the Flint Community Schools district announced that Musk and his Musk Foundation had donated nearly $500,000 to provide ultraviolet filtration systems for all 12 of the school buildings in the system and the district’s headquarters building by January 2019.
The system will remove lead and kill off bacteria for drinking water, allowing students to use drinking fountains and fill up water bottles.
The new water filtration systems will be instrumental in helping our students return to the normalcy of what should be a fundamental right: having access to safe, clean water from water fountains in their school.” The district thanked Musk and his foundation on Twitter, and Musk replied, “You’re most welcome.
Hope to do more to help in the future.” Musk also lived up to his original tweet, providing direct support for some residents, including the person who first asked him to help.
While state authorities say the water is now safe to drink, Michigan continues to provide filters.
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a Flint pediatrician critical in exposing the water contamination, tells people to continue to use bottled or filtered water, in part because the pipe replacement is stirring up lead as well.
While water tested starting in early 2017 showed lead levels had dropped to safe levels, ongoing testing in schools found that some samples exceeded thresholds]believed to be safe.