FLINT— A water main break Tuesday night has left some Flint residents without running water and others under a boil water advisory for the second time this summer. Due to a loss in pressure in the water supply, the city is warning that bacterial contamination may have occurred in the water system. The city of Flint Water Department is working to get the water main break isolated and pressure restored, as well as flushing the system and taking bacteriological samples near the affected area. In response, state Rep. Sheldon Neeley (D-Flint) issued the following statement:
“Given all our community has been through, I urge residents not to take this boil advisory lightly. I also encourage the city to follow through with thorough testing to ensure we’re protecting our neighbors, as well as making customers whole by issuing rebates to ensure residents are not forced to pay for water they failed to receive or had to modify before being used. Families in Flint have had to experience extended boil advisories twice in a matter of days, and those in our community deserve to be compensated for the city’s continued negligence and poor service. When departments fail to respond adequately to calls from residents, it puts their health at risk. As I have said for years, we cannot hand our families the bill when the city fails to provide the services it promised them.”