Flint Mayor Wants State Plan On School Water Testing
FLINT (WWJ/AP) - Officials in Flint are calling for a comprehensive plan from the state that includes multiple rounds of testing of school faucet and drinking fountain water for lead.
Flint Community Schools Superintendent Bilal Tawwab said during a news conference Wednesday that students will not be allowed to drink from the tap until officials and health professionals are satisfied with the water's safety.
He says the district, which serves about 4,500 students. will continue to use bottled water.
Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality has said district officials are not allowing the state to flush water lines or test the water.
Speaking alongside Tawwab, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver says that's not true.
"We're not opposed to the state coming in to test the water," Weaver said," but we won't want you to test it one time and then say everything is OK in the schools."
"We know that our kids and our parents deserve that comfort and confidence to test it over, you know, a time period, and get those results," the mayor added. "Get some good results more than one time so we can sign off on it."
State officials have said they already tested over 60 other schools, daycare and senior centers and have declared the water safe.
The city's water system was contaminated by lead in 2014 and 2015 because corrosive water from the Flint River wasn't properly treated. Lead broke away in old pipes, causing what's been dubbed "the Flint water crisis."
© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
