“I’m here to talk about Pure Michigan,” Mr. Michael Moore said sarcastically.

Moore, a filmmaker and author who grew up in Davison, stood outside of Flint City Hall on Saturday, Jan. 16, in 31-degree weather in the center of a crowd of more than 150 people.

He held a press conference, which turned into a rally, to talk about the lead-tainted water in Flint.

“I’m here today to ask, request, insist that President Obama, when he is at the Detroit auto show this Wednesday, (Jan. 20,) come to Flint, Michigan,” Moore said. “We’re an hour’s north drive from Detroit. We need the president of the United States here.”

Moore also insisted that Flint needs the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and even the Army Corps of Engineers.

A few days before on Tuesday, Jan. 12., Gov. Rick Snyder activated the Michigan National Guard to help in Flint.

Now, the American Red Cross, along with the National Guard, is handing out bottled water and filters to Flint residents.

But Moore is not satisfied with the state’s involvement.

Earlier in the day, Obama declared a federal emergency, giving $5 million in federal aid to Flint. However, Moore also said the aid falls short of what is needed.

“An hour ago, he (President Obama) signed an executive order declaring an emergency for Flint, Michigan,” Moore said. “But upon reading the executive order, it does not go far enough.”

Moore continued by commenting that “it’s only for bringing more bottled water to Flint – band aids, filters. That is not what we need.”

Moore said that Flint needs much more than a quick  fix, blaming Snyder for Flint’s tainted water, which occurred while a state-appointed emergency manager was in charge in Flint.

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The emergency manager had Flint switch its water supply from Detroit to the Flint River in April 2014 to save the city money. But after the switch, necessary corrosion control agents to keep the lead from old pipes from leaching into the water were not added to the Flint River water, causing lead levels in the water to rise sharply.

“The water infrastructure of this city has been destroyed, and it’s been destroyed by the governor of this state – pure and simple,” Moore said. “This is not a natural disaster. This is not a mistake. And we need to start using the proper words when we talk about this.”

In the National Journal, Gov. Rick Snyder later admitted that the Flint water crisis is his own Hurricane Katrina.

About half of Flint’s 40,000 homes are at least 50 years old and many have old lead pipes.

According to the EPA, the maximum safe number of lead in drinking water is zero parts per billion, while five parts per billion is labeled a concern and 15 parts per billion is the limit.

Flint’s drinking water has regularly been found to have 100 or more parts per billion by the Virginia Tech research team.

In one Flint resident’s home, the Virginia Tech research team found 13,200 parts per billion. This is extremely toxic, considering that 5,000 parts per billion is considered hazardous waste.

In addition, reports have recently surfaced that the number of Legionnaires’ disease infections has increased. According to the CDC, a bacteria found in water called Legionella can cause illness. When the bacteria infects the lungs, it results in pneumonia.

Moore also spoke about the 10 Flint residents who died because of Legionnaires’ disease over the past two years.

“If it was 10 people killed in a tornado, you’d say, ‘Ten people were killed.’ If it were 10 people killed in a car accident, you’d say, ‘Ten people were killed.’” Moore said.

“Ten people were not killed, though, in an accident here or a natural disaster,” Moore continued. “Ten people were killed here because of a political decision to save money and risk the lives of people here in a city that is majority African-American, where 41 percent live below the official poverty line. That is what is going on here.”

Mr. Wantwaz Davis, Flint city councilman, started the protest two years ago. He stood beside Moore, adding his own words.

“Nobody was taking me seriously,” Davis said. “But now I have about 200 to 300 people standing next to me. We have been here for two years and no one was listening until Michael Moore and the Department of Justice got involved.”

But Davis is still not satisfied, saying that he wants Obama to visit Flint and he wants a change in Michigan’s top political job.

“We need to remove him (Gov. Rick Snyder) until this problem has been investigated,” Davis said. “And then at the end of the investigation, we need to keep him out.”

Moore agrees with Davis about seeing a change in the governor’s office. But he also wants to see more action at the federal level.

“Send the federal government in for help, ” Moore yelled. “We need the cavalry right now, in here, for help. Not the state government.”