Audit faults Michigan regulators in Flint water crisis

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Audit faults Michigan regulators in Flint water crisis

John Flesher, Ap Environmental Writer

Updated 3:58 pm, Friday, March 4, 2016

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality made crucial errors as the city of Flint began using a new drinking water source that would become contaminated with lead, but the rules the agency failed to heed may not be strong enough to protect the public, auditors said Friday.

A report by the state auditor general found that staffers in the DEQ's drinking water office failed to order the city to treat its water with anti-corrosion chemicals as it switched to Flint River in April 2014. The city had been using Lake Huron water from Detroit but made the change to save money, planning eventually to join a consortium that would have its own pipeline to the lake.

The corrosive river water scraped away lead from aging pipes that tainted water in some homes and schools, and has been blamed for elevated lead levels in some children's bloodstreams.

"DEQ needs to improve its oversight and monitoring of community water supplies that implement a new water source or treatment process to ensure that DEQ meets its mission of promoting wise management of water resources to support healthy communities," the audit said.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Audit-faults-Michigan-regulators-in-Flint-water-6870323.php

[jakeXT]

1. Not following their own rules

Under the Lead and Copper Rule the water company only has to sample 100 homes once per year. The bargain was, “We won’t make you sample everyone’s house, but if you pick these 100 houses to be the worst houses, and you sample the worst houses, if there’s a problem we will see it.” That’s the logic. Then you’ll know if you have a problem.
Well, they’ve never done that. They tend to go sample 100 houses that don’t have lead. The EPA never enforced it’s own rule. That’s what was happening in Flint—Flint was telling the state, in writing, “Every house we sampled has a lead pipe.” That was all a lie. That’s been acknowledged now.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/q-a-what-really-happened-to-the-water-in-flint-michigan/

[valerief]

4. Instead following Killer Snyder's rules. Or else. nt

[chapdrum]

2. The audit's first priority (or instinct)

is to invoke bureaucratese that, in light of what's been done, is so insufficient as to be, at best, insulting.

No justice, yet again.

Exceptionalism on parade.

[WhiteHat]

3. Right. Pigs fly, and bureaucrats don't know how to keep their jobs.

Under Rick Snyder's administration, you keep your mouth shut. If the Governor's Office wants it you deliver.

This latest (not) independent so-called "audit" is just another attempt to push blame away from the governor's office.

Who appoints the State Auditor General?

One guess.

[HeartoftheMidwest]

5. Also, repeating over and over what Detroit has said is a LIE:

"The city had been using Lake Huron water from Detroit but made the change to save money.."

The truth bears repeating over and over and over:
DETROIT OFFERED TO CONTINUE PROVIDING WATER AT A COST SAVINGS.

http://motorcitymuckraker.com/2016/01/23/gov-snyder-lied-flint-water-switch-was-not-about-money-records-show/

[Judi Lynn]

6. Thanks for posting. The truth does bear repeating. n/t