Snyder to drink Flint water for 30 days - but mayor is unimpressed

LANSING, Mich. (WJBK) - Gov. Rick Snyder and his wife now drinking filtered Flint water daily.

"You can ask the people that work for me, I made my tea this morning with it in both the Capitol and the Romney building," Snyder said. "We have got the jug sitting right there and we're working on restocking it at some point because we are going to go through it."

In his latest effort to win back public trust, he is making national headlines but some call it a stunt. The mayor of Flint says the governor should take things one step further and move to the city.

Snyder drinks a glass of filtered water from a faucet in Flint. It's part of his new pledge to drink Flint water while at home and at work for the next 30 days.

"I don't want this to be viewed as a gimmick kind of thing," he said. "This is something serious to me."

But Flint Mayor Karen Weaver fired back Tuesday.

"Drinking filtered water does not impress us at all," she said. "Well we've heard people tell us we could drink it before so this is like deja vu."

Just last month, Congress questioned former Flint Mayor Dayne Walling about his own on-air attempts to assure Flint's residents their water was safe back in July of 2015.

"My family and I drink the water every day," Walling said in an interview at the time.

That was before the public knew their water was poisoned with lead - a situation the state has been working to correct for months.

"It's fine, it's filtered water," Snyder said. "It's good water. Scientists reinforced the fact that filtered water is safe to drink and people were still skeptical. I tried to reinforce that, so they said why don't you do it - so I said - I will."

"I am not going to tell anybody to drink the water," Weaver said. "Now if they want to follow what the governor is doing that's on them."

Mayor Weaver has been a big proponent of replacing lead service lines. The governor has supported more studies along with corrosion controls to re-coat the existing pipes. A process that shows water quality is improving, but far from perfect.

"If the governor really wanted to know what it's like to deal with the situation we're in, then instead of saying he's going to drink filtered water for 30 days he should come and stay here for 30 days," Weaver said.

"She's entitled to her opinion," Snyder said.

FOX 2: "Will you go live there for 30 days?"

"That's not practical," Snyder said. "But as a practical matter I am drinking the filtered water at work and at home for the next 30 days."

The governor was asked if he plans to post any kind of blog about drinking the water but he said that would be boring and has no plans for it right now.