August is Water Quality Month, yet Michigan Republicans continue to play political games with the Flint water crisis, which is in its fourth year and which a new investigation indicates could have led to over 100 deaths. The people of Flint aren’t pawns, and they deserve better.   

**ICYMI**

PBS: Flint Water Crisis Deaths Likely Surpass Official Toll

By Kayla Ruble, Jacob Carah, Abby Ellis, and Sarah Childress

July 24, 2018

The death toll in Flint, Michigan, from contaminated water may be much higher than state health officials have acknowledged, an ongoing FRONTLINE investigation has found. The likely killer: Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia caused by the legionella bacteria.

Officially, 90 people were sickened and 12 died from exposure to waterborne legionella bacteria during the 18 months that the city of Flint drew its water from the Flint River in 2014 and 2015. But FRONTLINE’s investigation has found 119 deaths from pneumonia during that time, some of which scientists say could actually have been caused by legionella. The tally is based on an extensive review of death records and interviews with epidemiologists and other scientists who are experts in the field of infectious diseases.

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