News

Actions

State police: Flint losing bottled water to non-residents

Posted at 3:51 PM, Jul 25, 2017
and last updated 2017-07-25 15:51:10-04

FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan State Police official says people from outside Flint appear to be loading up on free bottled water.

Capt. Chris Kelenske says it might be time to require identification at the nine distribution sites in Flint. He says he has a “lot of anecdotal evidence” that non-residents are taking water.

Kelenske says more water is being distributed now than ever — a daily average of 21,500 cases in late July. Free water has been available since fall 2014 when Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration finally acknowledged that Flint’s water system was tainted by lead.

Flint stopped using the Flint River and returned to a Detroit regional system. Experts have been saying for months that the water is safe to drink if it first flows through a filter.