Elon Musk.
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Elon Musk's kid-size sub wasn't able to save the kids trapped in a Thailand cave — they're safe and sound anyhow — but the Tesla, SpaceX and Boring Company entrepreneur is on another humanitarian mission now.
Musk just tweeted that he will personally fund fixing the notorious water in Flint, Michigan for any house that has water contamination above FDA levels — telling CNET and followers he'll organize a weekend in Flint to add filters to houses that still have issues.
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
Now, you might ask: Doesn't Flint have clean water now — or at least water below FDA levels? There were reports that Flint's water generally fell below the FDA lead contamination level in January 2017, and a sample of 92 homes suggested they were well below that level this April.
So I asked Musk that exact question.
Youre right on both counts. Most houses in Flint have safe water, but theyve lost faith in govt test results. Some houses are still outliers. Will organize a weekend in Flint to add filters to those houses with issues & hopefully fix perception of those that are actually good.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 11, 2018
His answer: it's partially about fixing some homes that still don't have clean water, and it's partially about raising awareness that the town's water is generally safe once more.
Musk is inviting Flint, Michigan residence with homes that still have dangerously high levels of lead to reply to his first tweet (the one I embedded at the top of this post) until he can finish creating a [email protected] email address. He thinks the email will be up and running tomorrow.
Here's a Politifact article that delves into the nuances of whether Flint's water is truly safe today — in case you, like me, recall a viral video where comedian Michelle Wolf mic-dropped the White House Correspondents' Dinner with the words "Flint still doesn't have clean water."
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