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The governor of the state of Michigan, Rick Snyder, is under fire after a series of released emails reveal that the Republican leader had been notified of the water contamination in the city of Flint by local doctors, who had reported high levels of lead in children’s blood last September, before the crisis turned into a national scandal.
Snyder's office voluntarily made public 273 pages of mails and documents public Wednesday afternoon.
In one of them, Snyder’s then-chief of staff, Dennis Muchmore, tells him the "real responsibility" for the city's water issues rested with local government officials.
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Some residents consider the move an attempt of the governor's administration to wash its hands of any accountability for the water crisis. In the email, Muchmore says state health officials are worried that the issue could turn into a "political football."
"The real responsibility rests with the county, city and KWA (a local water authority)” the Sep. 25 email reads. “We can’t tolerate increased lead levels in any event, but it’s really the city’s water system that needs to deal with it.”
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The issue has become a national controversy and has led to a series of protests calling for the resignation of Snyder and those public officials who insisted it was safe to drink the water.
In his annual speech Tuesday, Snyder apologized to the city's residents and pledged US$28 million to fix the problem.
Flint’s water source was switched from the Detroit water system to the unfiltered and corrosive Flint River water in 2014 in a bid to save money. The city switched back to Detroit water again in October, but by that time some residents had been drinking the water for 19 months.
At least 10 people have died from the mainly water-borne Legionnaires' disease in Flint, but it is not yet known whether these deaths were linked to the toxins were found in the water supply.
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