Elon Musk Pledges To Pay For Flint Water Fix

Tesla billionaire Elon Musk took a leap into the water sector this month when he pledged to pay for clean water in Flint homes.

“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.,” Musk tweeted on July 11.

“In follow-up tweets, Musk said he would reward volunteers willing to organize a ‘barnstorming weekend’ for water-filter installations and said he would set up an email address -- flint@x.com -- for residents to request help,” Bloomberg reported.

“Most houses in Flint have safe water, but they’ve lost faith in govt test results,” he said in another tweet. “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.”

Musk also had a Twitter exchange with the mayor of Flint setting up a phone call.

After Musk’s initial tweet, clean water activists immediately offered to help Musk follow through on his promise.

The Natural Resources Defense Council tweeted: “Thank you! Filters and replacement cartridges are available for free at Flint City Hall. And lead service lines, a major source of contamination, are being replaced across Flint, but there is still a HUGE need to fund replacing internal plumbing and fixtures in Flint homes — another major source of dangerous contamination. We will happily connect you with people in Flint who can help. Let us know!”

Flint residents chimed in with their accounts of their water issues.

“Mr. Musk. I live in Flint and the water is not safe. It burns your eyes and skin in the shower. My lead is 442 ppb. We have bacterial issues. We don't need filters, we need the contaminated interior plumbing and water heaters replaced. Thank you,”

Bloomberg noted that Musk’s commitment comes another attempt to offer assistance.

“By stepping up to offer assistance to Flint, Musk is thrusting himself into a second high-profile crisis in a matter of days. Some of his more than 22.3 million Twitter followers encouraged him to get involved with the city’s water issues in response to his attempt to aid a Thai youth soccer team that was trapped in a cave before being rescued this week,” Bloomberg reported.

Musk has received some bad press amid his efforts because he verbally attacked one of the rescuers of the trapped Thai soccer team.

“The British cave diver attacked by Elon Musk has responded to the bizarre attack launched by the SpaceX CEO, as more details emerged about Australia’s hero divers from the Thai cave rescue,” news.com.au reported.

Musk’s original Flint tweet was a response to a challenge from a Twitter user.

"Hey @elonmusk," a user called Baby D tweeted. "I heard a bunch of people saying there's NO WAY you could help get clean water to Flint, Michigan. Said you wouldn't be capable idk."