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| President Barack Obama drinks water as he finishes speaking at Flint Northwestern High School in Flint, Mich., Wednesday, May 4, 2016, about the ongoing water crisis. |
FLINT, Mich.
(AP) -- Sipping filtered city water to show it's again drinkable,
President Barack Obama promised Wednesday to ride herd on leaders at
all levels of government until every drop of water flowing into homes in
Flint, Michigan, is safe to use.
He also
promised that the aging pipes that contaminated the water with lead will
be replaced, but cautioned that the project will take time. Obama said
he wanted to use the crisis to make long-term improvements to the city,
where more than 40 percent of residents live in poverty.
"It's
not going to happen overnight, but we have to get started," Obama told
hundreds of people gathered in a high school gymnasium. Obama spoke
after he was briefed on the federal response to the water contamination
and had met privately with nine residents.
Obama
said he understood why people are scared and angry and feel let down.
He said what happened in Flint was a manmade disaster that didn't have
to happen. But he said it did happen and everyone must now work together
to fix it.
"I've got your back," Obama said.
"I will not rest and I'm going to make sure that the leaders at every
level of government don't rest until every drop of water that flows to
your homes is safe to drink and safe to cook with and safe to bathe in."
He
called providing safe drinking water a basic responsibility of
government. And while he said he didn't want to go over every "screw-up
that resulted in contaminated water," he blamed an overarching attitude
that less government is better.
"It's an ideology that undervalues the common good," Obama said.
After
coughing several times during his remarks, Obama asked for and drank
from a glass of water. He also drank city water after getting a lengthy
briefing on the crisis, which forced residents to spend months drinking,
cooking and bathing with bottled water.
Obama
declared a state of emergency in Flint in mid-January and ordered
federal aid to supplement the state and local response. By then,
however, the crisis was in full bloom.
It took
several months for the nation to focus on the beaten-down city's
plight, raising questions about how race, more than half of Flint's
residents are black, and poverty influenced decisions that led to the
tainted water supply and the sluggish response.
The
city, in an effort to save money while under state management, began
drawing its water from the Flint
River in April 2014. Despite complaints
from residents about the smell and taste and health problems, city
leaders insisted the water was safe. However, doctors reported last
September that the blood of Flint children contained high levels of
lead.
The source of the city's water has been
switched back to Detroit, but the lead problem still is not fully
solved.
Most people are drinking filtered or bottled water.
The
political and legal fallout is ongoing. An independent commission
appointed by Republican Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder determined the state
was primarily responsible for the water contamination in Flint, and he
issued an apology. The Obama administration's response, through the
Environmental Protection Agency, has also come under criticism from
Snyder and some in Congress who say the EPA didn't move with necessary
urgency.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy told
Congress that, while staff repeatedly urged the state to address the
lack of corrosion controls, "we missed the opportunity late last summer
to quickly get EPA's concerns on the public's radar screen." An
inspector general is investigating the EPA's response.
Congress
is also grappling with how to help Flint, but progress has been slow. A
Senate committee last week approved a $220 million aid package as part
of a broader bill that would authorize nearly $4.8 billion for
water-related projects around the country. The bill could come up for a
Senate vote in May.
Snyder spoke in the
gymnasium during Obama's meeting and was loudly booed. Snyder said he
understood why residents were angry and wanted to say he was sorry. "You
didn't create this problem," Snyder said.
"Government failed you."
Many in the audience yelled back at Snyder, "You failed."
Snyder was booed again when Obama spoke and mentioned him along with other elected leaders he had met with Wednesday.
"No, no, no," Obama said. "We're trying to do some business here."
Outside
the school, Reneta Richard, a teacher and Flint resident, said she
hoped Obama's trip would lead to something positive. She recently bought
a house and said she's there for the long haul.
"I
want him to leave a check - right here, right now - for pipe removal
and medical bills and the life we're going to suffer," said Richard, 37,
a single mom. "This isn't going to be over in 10 years."
Marc
Edwards, a Virginia Tech expert who sounded the alarm over Flint's lead
problem last year, said Obama's presence in Flint "sends an amazing
message."
"He was here. Flint counted," Edwards said.
During
the trip, federal officials announced $10 million to build and renovate
community health centers in Michigan so they could serve more patients.
Also, the Michigan Senate approved spending another $128 million to
address the problems in Flint. The emergency aid now goes to the state
House for consideration.
