Obama Drinks Filtered City Water In Flint To Show It’s Safe

President Barack Obama holds up a glass of filtered Flint water after drinking it as he speaks to media during a briefing on the response and recovery plans of the ongoing water crisis by the unified command group a... President Barack Obama holds up a glass of filtered Flint water after drinking it as he speaks to media during a briefing on the response and recovery plans of the ongoing water crisis by the unified command group at the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan in Flint, Mich., Wednesday, May 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) MORE LESS
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FLINT, Mich. (AP) — Showing support for the beleaguered residents of Flint, Michigan, President Barack Obama drank filtered city water on Wednesday to show that it is again safe to drink following the city’s lead-contamination crisis.

After he received a briefing on the federal government’s response to the contamination, a reporter asked Obama if he would drink the water in a glass on the table.

The president said he usually avoids publicity stunts. But then he drank some of the water, saying he wanted to show it must be safe.

“This used a filter,” Obama said of the water. “The water around this table was Flint water and it just confirms what we know scientifically, which is, if you’re using a filter, if you’re installing it, then Flint water at this point is drinkable.”

Obama was in Flint to show residents that their needs in recovering from long-term exposure to lead in their drinking water won’t be ignored by the federal government after the public spotlight begins to fade, the White House said.

He declared a state of emergency in mid-January and ordered federal aid to supplement the state and local response. At that point, however, the crisis was in full bloom.

It actually took several months for the nation to focus on the beaten-down city’s plight, raising questions about how race and poverty influenced decisions that led to the tainted water supply and the beleaguered response once problems surfaced. More than 40 percent of Flint residents live in poverty and more than half are black.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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