Tesla CEO Elon Musk Donates Money to Flint Schools for New Water Fountains, Filtration Systems

Billionaire Elon Musk has donated $480,350 to help give Flint students access to clean water within their schools.

Placards posted above water fountains warn against drinking the water at Flint Northwestern High School in Flint, Michigan, May 4, 2016, where US President Barack Obama met with locals for a neighborhood roundtable on the drinking water crisis. / AFP / Jim Watson (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

By Breanna Edwards · Updated October 23, 2020

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is donating in a big way to schools in Flint, Mich. The billionaire, working with the Musk Foundation, donated money to install new water fountains with new filtration systems in all Flint schools, CNN reports. With the $480,350 donation, students in Flint are one step closer to having access to clean water within the halls of their own schools once again, following the fallout of the Flint water crisis that exposed high levels of lead within the city’s water supply. “We are deeply grateful for the generosity and the budding partnership between Flint Community Schools, the Musk Foundation and Elon Musk,” Flint Community Schools Superintendent Derrick Lopez said, according to CNN. “The new water filtration systems will be instrumental in helping our students return to the normalcy of what should be a fundamental right: having access to safe, clean water from water fountains in their school.”

Thank you @elonmusk and @MuskFoundation for investing in the health/future well-being FCS Students! Your generous donation will help us replace ALL water fountains w/NEW WATER STATIONS & WATER FILTRATION at ALL SCHOOLS! Looking forward to our burgeoning partnership! More to come!
— Flint Schools (@FlintSchools) October 4, 2018

The new ultraviolet water filtration systems and new fountains are expected to be installed in all 12 Flint schools and the district’s administration building by the end of January 2019 “The UV water purification method within the water filtration systems will disinfect all lead and bacteria coming from the water pipes to allow students to drink from and fill up water bottles from school water fountains,” the city of Flint said in a press release. And going by Musk’s response, this won’t be the last time that he hopes to help the city, tweeting back to the school that he hopes “to do more to help in the future.”

You’re most welcome. Hope to do more to help in the future.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 5, 2018

TOPICS: Elon Musk flint flint schools flint water crisis