President Obama has no plans to follow Michigan Gov. Rick Synder’s lead and drink a glass of tap water during his trip to Flint, Mich. Wednesday, the White House said Monday.
“I’m not aware of any photo-ops that involve the president’s consumption of water,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Monday during his daily briefing.
Still, he said, the people of Flint should follow the Environmental Protection Agency’s advise to the public that “properly filtered water is safe to drink.”
“I would encourage people to listen to the advice the EPA has said,” Earnest said.
On Wednesday, Obama will travel to Flint to hear first-hand from residents about the public health crisis and receive an in-person briefing on the federal efforts in place to help respond to the needs of the people of Flint, the White House said.
In late April, Snyder was widely criticized on social media for pledging to drink filtered water from Flint for an entire month.
“To help support this effort — people are asking about me drinking the water — I filled up a bunch of gallon jugs, so I’m going to drink filtered Flint water from this wonderful home I visited,” he told reporters in a videotaped exchange. “I’m going to start drinking that tonight and do it for the next 30 days when I’m at work and at home.”
An avalanche of social media criticism followed Snyder’s water promise, including from some who said they hoped the governor would be imprisoned for charges of negligence leading up to the lead crisis in Flint’s water, and calls for his resignation.
