Tesla Motors and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation provided a donation that is helping bring clean water to schools in Flint, Michigan. According to MLive, the Flint school district announced on October 5th that a $480,350 donation from Musk will pay for the purchase and installation of ultraviolet water filtration systems to all 12 of its school buildings.
“Thank you @elonmusk and @MuskFoundation for investing in the health/future well-being FCS Students! Your generous donation will help us replace ALL water fountains w/NEW WATER STATIONS & WATER FILTRATION at ALL SCHOOLS! Looking forward to our burgeoning partnership! More to come!” said Flint Schools on its Twitter account:
You’re most welcome. Hope to do more to help in the future.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 5, 2018
The water crisis in Flint goes back several years when the city switched its drinking water source from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) from Lake Huron and the Detroit River to Flint River.
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha is credited for exposing the Flint water crisis after her research determined that children in Flint had been exposed to dangerous levels of lead. During her research, Dr. Hanna-Attisha learned that the blood lead levels of children in Flint doubled after the water was switched from the Detroit River to the Flint River.
Over a year later, the city of Flint switched back to the DWSD water supply. And President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Flint around 2016. This allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide resources to the city. Now the city is in the process of replacing all of the lead pipes across homes in Flint.
Musk seemed to have taken an interest in helping the city of Flint after a Twitter user “@DylanSheaMusic” interacted with him back in July:
Please consider this a commitment that I will fund fixing the water in any house in Flint that has water contamination above FDA levels. No kidding.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 11, 2018
“We are deeply grateful for the generosity and the budding partnership between Flint Community Schools, the Musk Foundation and Elon Musk,” added Flint Community Schools Superintendent Derrick Lopez via MLive. “The new water filtration systems will be instrumental in helping our students return to the normalcy of what should be a fundamental right: having access to safe, clean water from water fountains in their school.”
