Tesla's Elon Musk To Work With Flint Mayor On Water Crisis

Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter on Wednesday to declare his "commitment" to help fund fixing any homes in Flint, Michigan, that still have contaminated water.

Musk, responding to a tweet challenging him to help the town with its water crisis, said that he would "fund fixing the water in any house in Flint that has water contamination above FDA levels." Musk, in a subsequent tweet, also said he would help get filters installed in homes that need them.

Then, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver jumped into the message thread looking to offer insight on what exactly the city needs, which prompted a reply from Musk saying he would get in contact with its officials.

Earther reported that the mayor’s office has been in contact with Musk’s camp about how the tech CEO could contribute to help to fix the city's ongoing water issue. It is not yet known how exactly Musk plans to help.

"There was outreach from his office. They said they've been following and watching what's been going on in the city and what are the specific needs Flint still has," Weaver said, as reported by NBC News.

"They want to make sure that they are doing things in a thoughtful and meaningful way for the residents. Instead of going in a bunch of different directions, they want to know specifically what will help the most."

Meanwhile, state and federal agencies have issued $40 million for the replacement of lead pipes as the city estimates it would cost nearly $55 million to switch out all the pipes completely, according to MLive. In April, the state of Michigan declared its water safe for consumption and ended its free bottled water program for residents.

The water supply in Flint was contaminated with lead in 2014 when the state changed its water source, Bloomberg reports. More than 100,000 of the city’s residents were affected and some homeowners still claim the water is unsafe to drink.