Amid denials, state workers in Flint got clean water Paul Egan, Detroit Free
Press Lansing Bureau LANSING - In January of 2015, when state officials were
telling worried Flint residents their water was safe to drink, they were also
arranging for coolers of purified water in Flint's State Office Building
so employees wouldn't have to drink from the taps, according to state
government e-mails released Thursday by the liberal group Progress Michigan. A
Jan.
7, 2015, notice from the state Department of Technology, Management and Budget,
which oversees state office buildings, references a notice about a violation
of drinking water standards that had recently been sent out by the City of
Flint. "While the City of Flint states that corrective actions are not
necessary,
DTMB is in the process of providing a water cooler on each oc'cup'ied floor,
positioned near the water fountain, so you can choose which water to drink,"
said the notice. "The coolers will arrive today and will be provided as long as
the public water does not meet treatment requirements. Melanie Brown, a
spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality could not
immediately answer e-mailed questions about the water purchases, including for
how long the state continued to buy bottled water for state employees in Flint
while telling Flint residents the water was safe to drink. She said the
department was "looking into these issues. Lonnie Scott, executive director of
Progress Michigan, said it appears the state was not as slow as initially
thought in responding to the Flint drinking water crisis. "Sadly, the only
response was to protect the Snyder administration from future liability and
not to protect the children of Flint," Scott said. "While residents were being
told to relax and not worry about the water, the Snyder administration was
taking steps to limit exposure in its own building. After months of downplaying
concerns, including warnings from researchers about high lead levels in
both the drinking water and in the blood of Flint children, the administration
of Gov. Rick Snyder acknowledged around Oct. 1 a problem that is now a
full-blown
public health crisis garnering international headlines. Michigan DEQ Director
Dan Wyant resigned in December after acknowledging officials failed to require
the city to use needed corrosion control chemicals when they switched the
source of their supply to Lake Huron water treated by Detroit to Flint River
water treated at the Flint water treatment plant. The lack of corrosion
controls caused lead to leach from pipes joints and fixtures into an unknown
number
of Flint households beginning in April of 2014, when the city began using the
Flint River as a temporary cost-cutting move while under the control of a
state-appointed emergency manager. Flint customers were switched back to
Detroit in October, but the potential danger persists because of damage to the
water distribution infrastructure. Snyder declared a state of emergency on Jan.
5 and a week later called out the Michigan National Guard to help distribute
bottled water and water filters in Flint. Included in the e-mail string
obtained by Progress Michigan is an e-mail from Mike Prysby, a district engineer
in the DEQ's drinking water division, whose name has surfaced earlier in
connection with the Flint drinking water public health crisis. Prysby, who had
been forwarded an e-mail from other state officials asking whether he would
know more about the safety of Flint's drinking water by March 1, forwarded
the e-mail to Stephen Busch, the district supervisor, who on Jan. 22 of this
year was suspended without pay for his role in the drinking water catastrophe.
"Appears certain state departments are concerned with Flint's WQ (water
quality)," Prysby said in the e-mail to Busch. "I will return the call ... On
Jan.
23, 2015, the Free Press ran a story , accompanied by a photo of Flint
residents holding up jugs of brown water, that said concerns of city residents
ranged
from the taste, appearance and odor of the water to unexplained rashes and
illnesses, even sick pets. Concerns about lead had not been raised then, though
experts now say the color of the water -- and the fact GM had announced it
stopped using it because it was too corrosive to metal parts -- should have
been a tip-off that metals including lead were leaching into the water. The
January 2015 Free Press story noted that in August and September, the city
issued three advisories to boil Flint water after detecting coliform bacteria.
Just before Christmas, residents received notices that state tests indicated
higher-than-acceptable levels of trihalomethane (TTHM), a by-product of the
chlorine disinfectants added to the water to kill the bacteria. The article
said that despite a recent alert about TTHM levels having exceeded federal
guidelines in 2014, city officials maintained the water was safe. The article
said that Michigan DEQ officials gave the same assurances at a meeting at Flint
City Hall on Jan. 21. Prysby represented the DEQ at that Fllint City Hall
meeting and told residents the chlorine did its job and cleaned the water of
microbial pathogens that can cause disease within days, the article said.
That meant the water was safe for healthy people to drink for a short time,
Prysby was quoted as saying. The trade-off, Prysby said, was TTHM, possibly
a danger for the very young, the very old, or the very sick if they ingest it
long-term, he added. "But we're talking decades," he said, adding that those
who are worried should talk to their doctors. Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660
or pegan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.
