Doubts About Safety Of Flint's Water 6 Years After Crisis

Flint, United States, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Oct, 2020 ) :Authorities say Flint's water meets Federal safety guidelines,outperforming comparable cities. Residents remain unconvinced.

On a Tuesday morning this month, blocks and blocks of cars waited near a church in the eastern part of the Midewestern city to receive value packs of bottled water.

These giveaways still happen three days a week, some six years after residents began complaining that a decision to supply the city from the Flint River was making them sick.

"We're still leery of drinking the water," said Cleophus Mooney as he waited in his car to collect his week's supply. "We'll still drink the bottled water until somebody high up says, 'It's okay to drink the water.'" "Sometimes the water still smells like a sewer and sometimes it has flecks in it," said activist JoJo Freeman, whose daughter still breaks out in hives after a shower.

Official statements from government bodies offer reassurance -- up to a point.

The Michigan state website stops short of calling Flint's water "safe to drink" but says the supply "meets very high standards," while city officials say the water quality has "stabilized" and shows low lead levels.

A city spokeswoman said more than 90 percent of the service lines have been replaced as part of the push to "get the lead out." The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it is safe to wash hands and bathe with unfiltered water, but urges against cooking or brushing teeth with it. Like the state, the EPA also urges use of a filter.

"Do not drink unfiltered water. It's not safe!" the federal agency says on its website.

Activist Claire McClinton recognizes that the water has improved from earlier, but "we have not been shown the evidence we need to believe the water is safe," she said.

"We're still in crisis mode," said McClinton, whose button reads, "Flint is still broken."