Gov. Snyder Approves $28 Million in Immediate Aid for City of Flint

STATE OF MICHIGAN

Joint Information Center

Appropriation will fund several programs to address Water Crisis

January 29, 2016 – Flint, Mich. – Gov. Rick Snyder today, signed a $28 million budget supplemental which assists Flint residents by addressing the city’s on-going water crisis. The supplemental, which Snyder called for in his State of the State Address January 19th, was approved by the legislature Thursday and signed by the Governor this morning.

“I thank the Legislature for their quick action to make this additional $28 million a reality. It is a necessary next-step in ongoing recovery efforts for the city,” Snyder said. “We know that more money will be needed to address long-term concerns and I want to reassure the families of Flint that I remain dedicated to fixing this problem.”

House Bill 5220, approved unanimously in both the House and Senate, will help ensure Flint residents have access to safe, clean drinking water in addition to the following:

* Supply free bottled water, faucet filters, and testing kits for Flint residents;
* Put nine nurses in local schools to monitor student health and well-being;
* Provide better nutrition for students and infants through WIC and in-school nutrition programs;
* Replace fixtures in schools, daycares, nursing homes and hospitals;
* Provide for an infrastructure study using independent experts;
* Treat any children who have high lead levels in the blood, using diagnostic testing, nurse visits and environmental assessments in the home.

Gov. Snyder will propose a long-term funding solution to address the ongoing needs of Flint in his Feb. 10 formal budget recommendation to the legislature.

In the continuing effort to identify the location of lead pipes and other components of Flint’s water infrastructure, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) experts from the

City of Flint, State of Michigan, the University of Michigan–Flint, and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have translated hundreds of hand-drawn plat maps and hand-written notes from the 1980’s into digitized maps. The maps are helping the State target its response and determine where safe water is needed.

“Since most of the water system infrastructure is underground, we can’t simply walk out and survey it,” said Capt. Chris A. Kelenske, deputy state director of emergency management and homeland security and commander of the Michigan State Police Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division. “This mapping will be a critical component of the State’s coordinated response in Flint.”

Once maps are fully digitized, they will be synced with 2015 parcel data and can then be overlaid with Census and infrastructure information which will allow analysts to pinpoint which inhabited homes have lead service lines.

Additionally, efforts continue to ensure city-wide distribution of bottled water, filters, water replacement cartridges and water testing kits.

Water response teams continue door-to-door delivery efforts with American Red Cross and other volunteers visiting 924 Flint homes today. Since Jan. 9, 2016, the following resources have been distributed to residents, both at the water resource sites and by water response teams:
· 216,605 cases of water

· 98,641 water filters

· 31,111 water testing kits

Additionally, water resource sites remain open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and are located at:

Fire Station #1 (also a water bottle recycling site)
310 East 5th St.

Fire Station #3
1525 Martin Luther King Ave.

Fire Station #5 (also a water bottle recycling site)
3402 Western Rd.

Fire Station #6
716 West Pierson Rd.

Fire Station #8 (also a water bottle recycling site)
202 East Atherton Rd.