Schools in Flint, Michigan that have been affected by the city’s ongoing water crisis received water filtration systems on behalf of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation in October 2018. The systems are currently undergoing testing and should be available for use in the coming weeks.
In October 2018, Musk donated $480,000 of water filtration systems for students, teachers, and faculty for Flint schools. Flint Community Schools is currently in the process of installing water stations at Southwestern Classical Academy where high school students are taught, and Doyle/Ryder Elementary School. Musk donated the systems after learning that water was not readily available to drink for those who are at the school.
The water systems utilize a purification system that uses ultraviolet light in order to remove lead and bacteria. But the systems will have to undergo testing before they are given the approval to be used in the schools.
According to a report from MLive, the Board of Trustees for Flint Community Schools met in August to approve a proposal to pay an environmental company to test water quality and perform flushing. The $19,558 price tag for the testing was paid for by Musk’s donation.
The district will meet on November 12 to discuss updates with the water systems.
Superintendent of Flint Community Schools Derrick Lopez was grateful for Musk’s contributions. “We are deeply grateful for the generosity and the budding partnership between Flint Community Schools, the Musk Foundation and Elon Musk. 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,” he said.
Musk also planned to help homeowners and residents of Flint, by vowing to install a water filtration system to any home in the city that had toxic water. “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,” he said on Twitter.
Musk didn’t stop there for the students in the Flint Community Schools, as he also donated $423,000 worth of Google Chromebooks for all seventh and eighth-grade students.
