Regulator: Michigan should have forced Flint to treat water

The top environmental regulator in MI says the state should have required the city of Flint to treat its water for corrosion after elevated lead levels were first discovered in the city’s water a year ago.

A congressional hearing into the Flint water crisis is shaping up to be a finger-pointing affair, with state and federal officials each blaming the other for failing to prevent or halt the poisoning of an entire city.

“Flint residents will not have to pay for water they can not drink”, Republican governor Snyder said in the statement to AP, adding: “My budget recommendation will include the request that the state make payments to the city’s water system for residential bills going back to April 2014 and alleviate the need for residential water shutoffs”.

Federal prosecutors in MI were working with an investigative team that included the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Inspector General, and the EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit said.

Earley, Michigan Gov. Rick Sndyer’s (R) former emergency manager for Flint, also declined to testify, citing his new role as emergency manager for Detroit Public Schools. But with or without Earley, congress will begin its investigation of the Flint water crisis. The emails, which are heavily redacted, reveal Snyder staffers called Flint residents who complained about contaminated water the “anti-everything group”.

– The FBI is now joining the investigation into the contamination of Flint’s water.

Meanwhile the city of Flint, operating under similar pressures, decided that money could be saved by drawing water from the poisonous Flint River.

“What happened in Flint was avoidable and never should have happened”, said Joel Beauvais, acting chief of the EPA’s water office.

The EPA has faced criticism over the loopholes in the lead and copper rule, with the head of the Ohio EPA warning that they risk causing serious public health problems akin to concerns in Flint, where a state of emergency has been declared after authorities failed to act over health problems experienced by residents for more than a year. According to Snyder’s office, cited by AP, the to-be-proposed $30 million in Consumption and Consumer Use Credit will cover a two-year period from April 2014 until the spring, when officials hope that the water will be safe for use without filters. However, Snyder’s press secretary said the governor “takes the well-being of all of MI residents very seriously, and Flint residents are not an exception to that”.

A lawsuit filed last week asks a federal judge to force MI and the city of Flint to replace all lead pipes in Flint’s water system to ensure residents have a safe drinking supply.

Flint’s lead problem wasn’t formally recognized until October 2015, although the government was said to be aware of the problem much sooner.

Earley was previously invited to testify – but refused.

The EPA announced in November an audit of how MI enforces drinking water rules, and plans to identify ways to possibly strengthen state oversight.