Flint Mayor To Governor: Drinking Filtered Water Is Meaningless; You've Got To Live Here

FLINT (WWJ/AP) - "Offended and insulted" were the first words from Flint Mayor Karen Weaver when asked about the announcement from the governor's office stating he'll drink filtered tap water from Flint for the next month.

On Monday, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder visited the home of a Flint resident and left with five gallons of filtered tap water which he said he would drink at work and at home for at least a month to show to residents it is safe with the use of a faucet filter, he said Monday.

She says the governor's decision overlooks the fear Flint residents have over bathing and cooking with their city water.

"Anger, disappointment, sadness and wondering how a city that is in the United States how its people can be treated this way," asks Weaver.

Weaver telling Newsradio 950 she still doesn't understand what the Governor is thinking.

"Two years later and we still can't drink the water and haven't received the funding necessary to be able to address our infrastructure concerns and you want to say you are going to drink from filtered water from Flint. To have a glass of water is pretty meaningless," says Weaver.

Next Monday marks the second anniversary since the City of Flint -- under the control of a state emergency manager -- made the switch to untreated water from the Flint River -- leading to the lead exposure from leaching pipes. An anniversary Weaver calls a "sad occasion".

Snyder has blamed "career bureaucrats" in state and federal governments. A task force appointed by Snyder has said the DEQ was the primary culprit because regulators misinterpreted a federal rule in telling Flint water officials not to treat the Flint River for corrosion until after two six-month monitoring periods.

The DEQ's director and communications director resigned in December. Snyder fired the department's top drinking water official, and a district supervisor is on paid leave after being suspended five days without pay in January for actions related to the Flint crisis — the maximum allowed under civil service rules.

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