Elon Musk says he will fund water filters for ho

Elon Musk says he will fund water filters for homes in Flint, Mich.

Published: July 11, 2018 6:37 p.m. ET

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Tesla CEO tweets he will fix the water ‘in any house’ below federal water-safety guidelines
Reuters
Elon Musk, here seen speaking in Los Angeles in May, said Wednesday he will fund water filters for homes in Flint, Mich.
By
MAX
A. CHERNEY
TECH REPORTER

Billionaire Elon Musk said late Wednesday that he would fund “fixing the water in any house” in Flint, Mich., that remains contaminated above acceptable federal levels.


Musk said that anyone in Flint should reply to his tweet with test results and he will “send someone to install a water filter.” The Tesla Inc. TSLA, -0.19% chief executive also said he would set up an email address Thursday to accept submissions.


In a subsequent tweet, Musk acknowledged that many of the homes in Flint have safe water, with lead levels below Food and Drug Administration standards, but said people have lost faith in the government’s test results, while some houses remain “outliers.” He said he plans to organize a weekend in the city to add filters to homes with issues and “hopefully fix perception of those that are actually good.”


In April, Michigan stopped providing free bottled water to Flint residents, a decision which local officials criticized because the city is still recovering from a crisis that led to dangerous levels of lead in tap water beginning in 2014.

State officials said lead levels in the water have not exceeded federal limits for roughly two years and Flint residents could, as of April, obtain free water filters. According to the Michigan government website, there are 10 locations where residents can receive free filters, replacement cartridges and home water-testing kits.