Billionaire inventor and entrepreneur Elon Musk pledged on Twitter on Wednesday to “fund fixing the water in any house in Flint that has water contamination above FDA levels”:
Hey @elonmusk I heard a bunch of people saying there's NO WAY you could help get clean water to Flint, Michigan. Said you wouldn't be capable idk
— Baby D (@DylanSheaMusic) July 11, 2018
“No kiddin,” he says:
Please consider this a commitment that I will fund fixing the water in any house in Flint that has water contamination above FDA levels. No kidding.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 11, 2018
And Flint’s mayor is taking him up on the offer:
Mr. Musk, I am the Mayor of Flint. I would like to have a conversation with you about Flint’s specific needs.
— Karen About Flint (@karenaboutflint) July 11, 2018
Sure, will call tomorrow
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2018
Wow. There’s already a plan in place to start replacing pipes in these homes, so it looks like they’ll happily take Musk up on his offer. From CNN:
The deal requires Michigan to give Flint $87 million in state and federal funds so the city can replace lead and other problem water pipes that connect homes to the city’s main water line. Some of that — $20 million — comes from a $100 million Environmental Protection Agency grant awarded to upgrade Flint’s water system last week; $20 million more comes from a state match.
The state government must come up with an additional $47 million, the settlement says. Also, it must set aside a further $10 million in federal funds for potential cost overruns.
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The city says it estimates pipes leading to 20,000 households need to be replaced, and it wants to complete this by the end of 2019. Pipes leading to nearly 800 homes have been replaced so far.
The deal says pipes leading to at least 6,000 households will be replaced by the end of 2017, with a further 6,000 done by the end of 2018.
Hey, if Musk wants to save taxpayers money, go right ahead.
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