Rick Snyder Wants Obama To Drink Flint Water
The Michigan governor has been trying to get the city’s residents to use their taps.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) hopes President Barack Obama has a drink when he visits Flint on Wednesday.
Snyder has been trying to get Flint residents to trust Environmental Protection Agency assurances that their water is safe to drink when it’s filtered.
“We are hopeful the president will drink the water in Flint, to help reinforce Gov. Snyder’s actions and the EPA’s message that filtered Flint water is safe to drink,” Snyder spokeswoman Anna Heaton told The Huffington Post in an emailed statement.
Testing shows unfiltered Flint water is still dangerous. High lead levels have poisoned residents’ taps since the city started pumping from the Flint River in April of 2014 and failed to treat the water correctly.
To demonstrate the effectiveness of filters, Snyder drank from a Flint resident’s tap last month. He vowed to continue to drink the city’s water for at least 30 days.
Flint mayor Karen Weaver dismissed Snyder’s water drinking as a publicity stunt. She urged people who are pregnant, nursing or under the age of 6 to keep drinking bottled water.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest suggested Monday that Obama wouldn’t sample Flint’s water during his visit.
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