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Flint protestors demand faster pipe replacement

Rick Pluta
/
MPRN

A group marched on Governor Rick Snyder’s office Tuesday to call for faster work fixing Flint’s water system.

About 50 demonstrators delivered more than 11 hundred empty water bottles with messages from Flint residents curled inside each one.

Nayyirah Shariff with the group Flint Rising led the march. She says the demands include picking up the pace of replacing lead pipes, and a moratorium on city water bills until the work is done. Shariff says the process of replacing the water pipes should not take years.

“It has been, like, woefully inadequate and very slow,” she said. “We need fast track pipe replacement. Three, four years, that’s just way too slow. And the other thing that we need is, we still should not be paying for this water.”

Shariff says Flint residents also want money for health care and to replace appliances damaged by corrosive water.

The group met with the governor’s communications director, who told them tests show Flint’s water is now safe to drink. The group also marched on Attorney General Bill Schuette’s office.

Schuette’s office announced late Tuesday there will be a new round of criminal charges related to the Flint water crisis.

Rick Pluta is Senior Capitol Correspondent for the Michigan Public Radio Network. He has been covering Michigan’s Capitol, government, and politics since 1987.
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