Flint officials ask US Congress for $55m to replace city's old lead pipes

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Flint officials ask US Congress for $55m to replace city's old lead pipes

Officials from Michigan city testified to congressional leaders Wednesday to ‘help
us restore our city’ after lead was discovered in drinking water

Jessica Glenza in New York
Wednesday 10 February 2016 23.24 GMT

Officials from the embattled city of Flint, Michigan, testified to Democratic congressional leaders on Wednesday to reiterate their call for urgent upgrades to the midwestern city’s basic services.

Abnormally high levels of lead were discovered in the city’s drinking water after an emergency manager, appointed by the state government, switched Flint’s water from Detroit’s supply to the Flint river, leading to extra corrosion in the old lead service lines that carry the city’s water.

Now, Flint officials are hoping members of Congress can find millions to replace the city’s old lead pipes and attend to the health and education needs of children exposed to the heavy metal.

“I implore you, on behalf of the city of Flint, to help us restore our city,” said mayor Karen Weaver, one of several local officials to testify before the US House Democratic Steering and Policy committee headed up by Democrat Nancy Pelosi. “I submit to you that we are not disposable people,” Weaver said.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/10/flint-water-crisis-michigan-us-congress-lead-pipes

[ladjf]

1. And Congress should give it to them immediately. nt

[HereSince1628]

4. Fed $$$ should come with a requirement their system can't be sold to a for-profit.

[ladjf]

5. What we have here is some Democratic Socialism. It's a situation that

was just to large for the people to deal with. Get the healthy water running and then sort out what went wrong so that it won't happen again.

I read that the taxes for large businesses in the area had been cut by billions of dollars. That might have been the problem.

[hobbit709]

2. It should come out of Snyder's pocket.

[Lars39]

3. Not enough!

Is that money also replacing water lines from the street to the house? Replacing pipes in the house? Replacing damaged water heaters and appliances? If not, it's not enough.

[Abq_Sarah]

6. Congress banned lead in pipes in 1986

Cities and municipalities didn't want to spend the money needed to replace the pipes and we now have millions of lead pipes remaining in this country. Flint isn't the only city with lead issues and it's only going to get worse. People need to put pressure on their state legislatures or the problem isn't going to be fixed until it's front page news.

[jmowreader]

7. I'll make them a deal.

If they arrest Rick Snyder, put him in the state prison, and mail President Obama the key to his cell, the feds will come in enough pipe to replace all the water mains in town and all the combat engineers the Department of Defense has to do the work. They'll do a good job for a hell of a lot cheaper than the private sector could.