As Flint, Michigan, moves on from its water crisis, residents still lack faith in elected leaders who didn’t do enough to prevent lead from poisoning the city’s water supply back in 2014.
Up until last week, the state provided bottled water to those who didn’t trust their tap water.
State and federal agencies, along with independent experts, have tested the water and affirmed these safe lead levels.
The federal lead action level is 15 ppb.” And last September, Virginia Tech researcher Marc Edwards also concluded Flint’s water was safe to drink.
Rick Snyder to continue the bottle water program — at least until the end of the year when Snyder leaves office.
“We’re trying to re-establish trust when trust has been broken in the city of Flint,” she said in an interview with The Detroit News.
Snyder wrote to Weaver, detailing the state’s rationale for ending bottled water.
He said Flint’s water is testing “the same or better than similar cities across the state.” And the city’s water has less lead than Chicago, Cincinnati and Philadelphia, among others, he said.
The state is rightly continuing with other efforts to help Flint move on, including boosted health care and nutrition services, as well as education and economic development programs.
Ending the bottled water program means that the state will have to work that much harder to rebuild trust with Flint residents.