President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Flint, Michigan on Saturday. The drinking water is contaminated and officials allegedly ignored an issue  of a water source that exposed most of the population of Flint Michigan to lead poisoning and other contaminants.

It was announced that FEMA will deliver water, water filters, water filter cartridges, water test kits, “and other necessary related items” for about three months, the release said.

In a release issued by The White House there was call for the Federal Emergency Management Agency “to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in Genesee County.”

Residents of Genessee County in Michigan have been warned not to drink unfiltered tap water.  It is important to not, though, that filtering water will not remove all of the contaminants.  For best safety the water should be distiller so the contaminants can be b

The Flint Michigan water crisis goes back to April 2014 when Flint switched water sources to save money. The new supply, from the Flint River, was saltier and flowed through corroded pipes, pulling lead into the system.

Typically a major disaster is declared after a “natural event” like a tornado earthquake or landslide, or after an explosion, fire or flood regardless of cause, according to FEMA.

Residents began complaining about the taste, smell and appearance of the water, and recent tests have shown elevated lead levels in the blood of some local children.

Federal prosecutors are already probing the debacle and the state’s health department has just started investigating whether an increase of Legionnaires’ disease cases — seven of them fatal — could be linked to the water.