Wal-Mart Joins Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nestle to Provide Safe Drinking Water to Flint
Wal-Mart is partnering with Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Nestle to provide safe water to thousands of children in Flint, Michigan.
The massive global retailer is shipping 6.5 million bottles of water to the city currently suffering from a contamination crisis, Forbes reported. Around 175 truckloads of clean water will be delivered daily to 10,000 public schoolchildren who may have been exposed to toxic levels of lead.
"The water crisis is personal to us here in Flint. Those affected include our own associates, customers and their families," local Wal-mart manager, Beth Harris, said in a statement. "Our associates are proud to be a part of the effort to help our friends and neighbors."
Michigan's government recently came under national scrutiny when it was discovered that residents of the financially suffering city of Flint were exposed to toxic water. An emergency manager appointed by state governor Rick Snyder made the unconscionable decision to supply the town with untreated water from the Flint River.
On discovering the water was contaminated with E. Coli (among other concerns), the city added chlorine to the water supply. This resulted in high concentrations of lead, which can cause lifetime damage to children under the age of 6.
Wal-Mart already provided 14 trucks of clean water and 1,792 water filters to Flint in July of last year. Coca-Cola also sent tens of thousands of Dasani bottles to the city.
"We are committed to supporting Wal-Mart and other groups in water relief efforts for the Flint community," said Coca-Cola vice president of Community Relations, Lori George Billingsley.
PepsiCo executive Tony West also expressed their commitment to the cause, saying the company believes "access to safe water is a basic human right." The company has donated close to 95,000 fresh water bottles to Flint in the past four months.
Nestle, who shipped over 190,000 bottles to the town since October, said they were proud of their partnership with Wal-Mart and would continue to join with other companies and organizations to provide Flint with safe drinking water.