WASHINGTON (AP) – A lead-contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan represents “a failure of government at all levels,” but the main culprit is a state agency he oversees, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder says.
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality repeatedly assured him and other officials that water from the Flint River was safe, when in reality it had dangerous levels of lead, the governor says.
In prepared testimony for a House hearing Thursday, Snyder says he did not learn until Oct. 1, 2015 that Flint’s water was contaminated – nearly 18 months after the city began drawing its water from the Flint River in April 2014.
Snyder said he took immediate action, reconnecting the city with Detroit’s water supply and distributing water filters and testing residents – especially children – for elevated lead levels.
A state investigation has “uncovered systemic failures at the Michigan DEQ,” Snyder says. “The fact is, bureaucrats created a culture that valued technical compliance over common sense – and the result was that lead was leaching into residents’ water.”