Elon Musk says he will fund fixing Flint’s foul water

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty)

For around four years now, the water supply to the city of Flint, Michigan, has been contaminated with lead. Now, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has promised to help. Replying to a request on Twitter, Musk pledged to fund remediation work to houses with contaminated water supplies.

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

For some time now, people on Twitter and elsewhere have been calling on Musk to turn his attention to this domestic scandal; those calls having escalated in response to his high-profile interest in the rescue of 12 children and their soccer coach from a cave network in Thailand. As is usually the case with plans that are barely an hour old, the details are thin as of now. But Musk—tweeting from China—told people in Flint to reply to his tweet with test results showing contamination above the recommended limits, at which point he would arrange having a water filter fitted for them. (We should note that it's actually the EPA, not the FDA, that sets limits on environmental pollution exposure.)

For now, reply to my tweet with ppm & ppb test results & will send someone to install a water filter. Creating email flint@x.com, but I’m in China so that won’t be working until tomorrow.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 11, 2018

In replies to other Twitter users, Musk mooted the idea of a "barnstorming weekend" installing water filters across Flint and noted that many houses in the area do actually have safe water now despite perceptions otherwise. While this isn't a flashy solution that uses offcuts from rockets, it also has the potential to make a lasting positive impact on the lives of citizens of Flint, particularly its children who can suffer from developmental delays if exposed to environmental lead.