President Obama said Wednesday that the municipal water crisis in Flint, Mich., should remind elected officials at all levels that first and foremost, their job is to tend to the more mundane aspects of governing.
“If I was a parent up there, I would be beside myself that my kid’s health could be at risk,” Obama said from nearby Detroit, where he was speaking before the United Autoworkers. “That’s why, over the weekend, I declared a federal emergency in Flint.”
In April 2014, Flint changed the source of city water from the Detroit River, via the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, to the Flint River. Almost immediately, residents began complaining about the taste, smell and color of the water, which subsequently was ruled contaminated and filled with unsafe levels of lead.
“It is a reminder of why you can’t shortchange basic services that we provide to our people; and that we together provide as government to make sure that the public health and safety is preserved,” Obama said.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, recently apologized and acknowledged that the state government was too slow to respond to residents’ complaints that the city-appointed emergency manager and former mayor were ignoring a major health risk.
