President Obama drank filtered water from Flint, the eastern Michigan city dealing with lead contamination in its drinking water supply, after he met with federal and state officials in the city for about an hour and a half Wednesday.
Obama met with federal officials coordinating the response to the lead water crisis, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver and a host of federal lawmakers to discuss recovery efforts. During a press availability following the meeting, Obama sipped a glass of filtered water that he said came from Flint.
“Generally, I haven’t been doing stunts, but here you go,” Obama said as he drank the water.
Earlier in the week, the White House said Obama didn’t have plans to drink the water while in the city. Snyder is a couple weeks into a promise to drink filtered Flint water for 30 days.
Obama also announced that it is safe for all children over the age of 6 to drink filtered water from the city’s water supply.
“Filtered water is safe, and it works,” Obama said. “Working with the state and the city, filters are now available for everyone in the city.”
Obama estimated “it might take a year, it might take two years, it might take more” to replace all the lead pipes in the city of 100,000.
Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency began pushing a new effort called Flush for Flint. The campaign aims to get Flint residents to run their tap water to remove lead particles from the drinking water system while also coating pipes with corrosion control.
“It’s not the most elegant name,” Obama said. “We need everybody to turn on their tap in the kitchen, the tub, for five minutes each day.”
In April 2014, a state emergency manager appointed by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed off on a symbolic vote from the Flint City Council to change the city’s water source to a new local authority. While a pipeline was being built, a state official decided the city would get its water from the Flint River instead of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.
The Flint River water, however, was so acidic that it caused the lead pipes bringing water from the city’s cast iron mains into homes to corrode. Lead leached off the pipes and into drinking water throughout the city.
The state and the federal government have declared a state of emergency, and Flint residents are not able to drink the water coming out of their taps.
A report done by the state indicated state environmental officials are at fault for the crisis. Three people, two state regulators and one city official, have been charged with state crimes, and the Michigan attorney general’s office continues to investigate the incident.
