Well, I have some good news, but I have to be honest, I'm not sure it's going to matter for the people that it will mostly affect. While that's a shame, the greater shame lies with the fact that this happened in the first place.

You might recall back in 2015 or 2016 that the drinking water in the city of Flint, Michigan, was deemed to be hazardous to drink. This, of course, made national news, and a political fight ensued between the Republican governor of the state at the time, Rick Snyder, and the Democratic leaders of the city, who looked to put the blame on anybody but themselves.

Well, the good news is that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has given the green light that the water is okay to drink now.

From the EPA press release: [emphasis original]

On Monday, May 19, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the City of Flint, Michigan, has completed all requirements of EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) emergency order and it will now be lifted. Since EPA issued the emergency order in January 2016, the City of Flint and the State of Michigan have worked cooperatively with EPA to address and complete all requirements. Water sampling shows that Flint’s water system is now in compliance with lead standards, a major milestone accomplished through years of cooperative federalism dating back to 2016, culminating in the termination of this emergency order.

“Today we celebrate nearly a decade’s worth of hard work and partnership at the local, state, and federal level to ensure the residents of Flint, Michigan, have access to clean, safe drinking water. Lifting this emergency order is a cause for great celebration for residents of Flint who worked so hard and sacrifice so much to get to this point. Even though the emergency order is lifted, all levels of government must continue to stay in contact and work closely to be a continued resource for the Flint community and ensure their water remains pristine. EPA will remain a partner to provide technical assistance to the city and state as efforts continue to maintain and upgrade water infrastructure systems,” said EPA Administrator Zeldin.

“Lifting the EPA emergency order marks a significant milestone for Flint residents, reaffirming their access to safe, reliable drinking water,” said EPA Region 5 Administrator Anne Vogel. “This achievement reflects the dedicated efforts of the City of Flint, the State of Michigan, and the EPA in addressing the lead crisis. With Flint's water system in compliance with lead standards, residents can trust in the quality of their water supply.”

Somebody who followed this from the beginning is local reporter extraordinaire, Charlie LeDuff; he has dug into many aspects of this story, including the political fallout and the election of Attorney General Dana Nestle in 2018, who dropped the ball on those responsible.

He covered part of the story here, back in 2013:

It was easy to smell this coming all the way back in 2018. Back then candidate Nessel, who had yet to win her party's nomination or see a single piece of evidence, promised she would fire Bill Schuette's investigative team for incompetence, tiring of their “politically charged show trials.”

Nessel even insinuated then the original Flint investigators were lining their pockets with taxpayer money, even though they had brought charges against eight people that included involuntary manslaughter and financial crimes.

LeDuff goes on...

Some of those charged were said to be cooperating against those above them, until they caught wind of candidate Nessel's statements. Then they stopped cooperating altogether.

Nessel won the election, and her then-solicitor general, Fadwa Hammoud, fired Schuette's investigators and asked a judge for a six-month continuation, claiming that they had found “new” evidence.

So Nessle blew it, and nothing happened, whether it was in the governor's office or the local level, and no one has been held accountable for basically making an entire region's water unusable for consumption.  

The EPA at the time, which was run by the outgoing Obama administration, essentially shrugged its shoulders and kicked it off to the Republican governor, who at first shrugged his shoulders and tried to kick it off to the Democrats on the local level. There was enough blame to go around on every level, but the result was still unusable water in the United States of America.

That is embarrassing, when you break it down to its core level.

I have friends who are in the region and are on the Flint water systems, and I hope that they're doing their best not to consume anything coming from the tap just yet. It might be best for them to probably hold off for several years or until the end of the decade.

Maybe the end of the millennium.

I know that sounds harsh, but that's how I feel right now. This has been such a debacle, and the government officials so screwed the pooch on this, we should not trust them for eons--or ever again.

Question everything, no matter who is in charge.

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