October 19, 2015
By John Wisely and Robin Erb
The State of Michigan (click here) has removed its top drinking water quality official and admitted it botched corrosion control in Flint water pipes, which resulted in elevated lead levels in the city's water system.
"Simply stated, staff employed a federal protocol they believed was appropriate, and it was not," Dan Wyant, director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, said in a statement. "The water testing steps followed would have been correct for a city of less than 50,000 people, but not for a city of nearly 100,000."
Wyant announced that his top deputy, Jim Sygo, would step in as interim chief of the department's Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance, replacing Liane Shekter Smith, who has been reassigned while the state reviews the problems in Flint.
Wyant said that Gov. Rick Snyder has called for a third-party review of the process but Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich (D–Flint) said in a statement that the state short-changed the safety of Flint residents....
