LANSING (WKZO) — State Auditors are blaming the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality for failing to do its job, when it did not order corrosion control chemicals be added when the Flint water system switched sources.
That’s what caused the lead contamination in Flint. The DEQ is part of the Snyder Administration. Three of its top officials have already resigned or been fired because of the Flint water crisis, and a fourth is under investigation.
The Audit also says that federal requirements and regulations are insufficient and need to be revised and recommended other fixes at the state level.
The DEQ says some of them have already been put in place.
The audit was released on the day that the City of Flint began its own effort to replace lead pipes in its water system and on the day that a delegation from Congress came for a visit to the beleaguered eastern Michigan town.
The two-dozen lawmakers led by Flint Congressman Dan Kildee and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi held a closed door meeting with residents and officials to hear their issues. We are sure promises were made, we just aren’t sure what they are.
Crews on Friday dug up a lead service line and replaced it with a copper line at the Flint home of an expectant couple. It was the first of 30 lines that will be removed as part of Mayor Karen Weaver’s Fast Start initiative designed to replace all lead service lines in the city.
But its estimated there could be a total of 8000 lead lines in the city and Weaver concedes they will need a lot of help and a lot of money from the state and federal governments to fix them all.
