FLINT, Mich. – Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder late Tuesday activated the National Guard to help distribute bottled water and filters in Flint as it deals with a drinking water crisis that began months ago.
Snyder’s executive order is intended to bolster outreach to Flint residents, whose tap water became contaminated with too much lead after it switched its drinking water supply. Officials in Michigan first declared a public health emergency in Flint on Oct. 1 in response to tests that showed children with elevated levels of lead.
Since then, officials have struggled to ensure residents have safe drinking water. People in Flint have been told not drink the tap water until it’s determined to be safe, and volunteers and police in recent days have been going door to door with bottled water, filters and lead test kits.
Earlier Tuesday, Genesee County sheriff’s Capt. Casey Tafoya had said volunteers and police hoped to get to 500 to 600 houses a day in a city of about 99,000 residents in an estimated 30,000 households.
State troopers and sheriff’s deputies escorted eight teams as they trudged through cold temperatures and 3 inches of snow, with more falling. Flyers were left at homes where no one answered, giving the location of where to pick up the items later.