Michigan congressman says Flint’s water still not safe to drink

Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) on Wednesday said that he did not believe the water in Flint, Mich., was safe enough to drink after the city’s water crisis but said he thought progress was being made.

“No, I don’t think we can trust it yet,” Kildee, whose district encompasses Flint, said to Hill.TV’s Buck Sexton and Krystal Ball on “Rising” when asked whether he thought the water in Flint was safe.  

“It is getting better, we have to acknowledge that,” he added. 

“We should by the end of July, certainly by the end of the summer, have been able to replace all of those lead service pipes that have been the source of the poisoning, but people don’t trust it yet. They were told the water was safe once before when it really wasn’t,” he said. “I think until those lead lines are gone, it’s going to be pretty difficult to have full confidence, but we are getting there.”

In 2011, the state took over Flint’s beleaguered finances, taking a number of measures meant to cut the city’s costs. Among those measures included switching the city’s water being delivered from Lake Huron to water from the Flint River. 

Local residents issued complaints about the water after it was switched. City, state and federal officials have been accused of ignoring, denying or covering up such complaints after it was discovered that the city’s drinking water was carrying dangerous amounts of lead.

In March 2017, nearly three years after the incident first came to light, the Environmental Protection Agency awarded $100 million to fund water infrastructure upgrades in Flint. A few weeks later, city officials declared the city’s drinking water was safe to drink.

— Julia Manchester