LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Two lawyers in Gov. Rick Snyder’s office urged his top aides to switch Flint back to Detroit’s water system only months after the city began using the Flint River, according to emails.
The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News report Friday that Valerie Brader and Mike Gadola expressed concerns about Flint’s water in October 2014, citing E. coli and General Motors plant’s switch because the water was rusting engine parts. It was a year before the state helped Flint return to Detroit’s system after water leached lead from pipes into homes.
In emails to then-chief of staff Dennis Muchmore and others, Brader said it was an “urgent matter to fix.” Gadola, Snyder’s then- legal counsel, called the idea of using the Flint River as a water source “downright scary.”
