Gov. Snyder seeks more Medicaid coverage for Flint residents

Complete coverage of the Flint water crisis in our special section. “CDC was a part of these conversations as they were involved in many aspects of the investigations”. Plenty of people did sound the alarm – but by the time anything was done – it was too late.

Gov. Rick Snyder’s office said the state has reached an agreement with engineering firm Rowe Professional Services, of Flint, to update recent analysis of water pipes in the city and boost efforts to protect the health and safety of city residents.

Sifting through thousands of emails from multiple state departments show what many have been speculating all along.

The lead contamination – which could have been prevented with anti-corrosion treatment of the water – has become a political scandal as emails and documents have emerged showing that MI officials tried to play down and cover up the problem for months.

But the committee chairman, Rep. Chaffetz released a statement that should give the governor some hope congressional Republicans will help spin his testimony away from his own responsibility and into a discussion of improving America’s infrastructure.

The handling of the Flint water crisis has been compared to that of Hurricane Katrina and even the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment.

“Affected residents no longer need to boil their filtered water because testing did not reveal any bacteria during or after the fix of the water main break”, the city said.

Water from the Flint river had for months corroded lead from the inside of water pipes before flowing into thousands of households across the city. Early test results indicated the presence of a low level of legionella.

Additionally, Betanzo tells us it’s rare that a city will go from a cleaner water source to one that is less clean.

But that didn’t stop Flint’s Water Quality Supervisor Michael Glasgow from sounding the alarm.

On April 25, 2014, Flint ended its relationship with its Detroit water supplier and switched to the polluted Flint River.

“They can not treat people this way”, she says of state and hospital officials. This is an unprecedented situation and the EPA needed to take action now.

But it’s possible she wouldn’t have thought to check those blood-lead levels without the help of an old friend from the ninth grade.

In a 5 March 2015 email, the MI department of environmental quality’s (MDEQ) spokesman wrote to Baird, Hollins, and Snyder’s spokesperson, saying that the prospect of “making home water filters available” in Flint was discussed.

“Miguel is questioning that Flint is in compliance with optimal corrosion control”, Cook wrote. The receiver changed the sourcing of Detroit Water and Sewerage Department’s water from Lake Huron and the Detroit River to the polluted Flint River.

“We were talking in her kitchen, and she kind of just mentioned, she was talking about her commute to Flint“. Pressure to hold public officials accountable for the crisis remains ongoing. A local hospital discovered the percentage of Flint children with elevated lead levels almost doubled after the switch, according to CNN affiliate WDIV-TV in Detroit.

Conry, who echoed the mantra that there is no safe level of lead, called for more research.

As far as the fall out, DEQ’s Liane Shekter Smith has been fired, Stephen Busch who she worked closely, has been suspended.