Michigan Congressman Wants Feds to Investigate Flint Water Crisis

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee wants the EPA to analyze how the Flint’s water supply was allowed to go so bad for so long.

A Michigan Congressman is calling for a federal investigation into why elevated levels of lead were allowed to seep into the City of Flint’s water supply.

Flint officials are reconnecting to Detroit’s water system after researchers found double, and sometimes triple, the amount of lead usually present in children living in the city.

But Michigan Congressman Dan Kildee, who represents Flint, is requesting that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency investigate why state officials allowed residents to use water that many said smelled bad and looked funny.

Research now shows the water contained dangerous levels of lead for months.

Kildee writes that someone must be held accountable for the situation in order to “restore confidence and to ensure that these failures never happen again.”

The head of the state Department of Environmental Quality says staff members used the wrong standards for judging the safety of Flint’s drinking water.

Gov. Rick Snyder is also appointing a task force to review how water was tested in Flint and propose guidelines for future safeguards.  

Author

  • Quinn Klinefelter
    Quinn Klinefelter is a Senior News Editor at 101.9 WDET. In 1996, he was literally on top of the news when he interviewed then-Senator Bob Dole about his presidential campaign and stepped on his feet.