Former Flint Water Official Says MDEQ Told Him Not To Worry About Corrosion Control

A former laboratory supervisor at the Flint Water Department is now saying that an official at the MDEQ told him not to worry about checking corrosion control when Flint switched to the Flint river.

Mike Glasgow was the laboratory supervisor at the time that Flint switched to the Flint River as its water source.  He recalls asking district engineer Mike Prysby of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality how often staffers would need to check the water for proper levels of phosphate.  Phosphate is used to prevent corrosion in the pipes, and the answer he got might explain how the Flint Water Crisis came to be.

WNEM reports that Glasgow remembers the exchange like this,

How often staffers would need to check the water for proper levels of phosphate.  Prysby's response, according to Glasgow: "You don't need to monitor phosphate because you're not required to add it."

If this exchange is true, then we now know the exact moment that the Flint Water Crisis became a reality.  The MDEQ has been at the center of a number of controversies involving the water issues in Flint, but this is the most condemning yet.

The information was given during a meeting of the committee assigned to take on the Flint Water Crisis yesterday.  At that same meeting, Flint residents were able to speak, and WJRT has video of their comments below.