FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A newly released email shows that shortly before Flint began drawing its drinking water from the Flint River, an official with the city water plant feared things were moving too quickly.
Mike Glasgow was laboratory and water quality supervisor on April 17, 2014, when he sent a message to officials with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Glasgow said people above him were planning to distribute water “ASAP.” But he said he still needed time to train more staffers and update monitoring plans.
He wrote that if water was distributed from the plant within the next couple of weeks, it would be against his direction. But he said his superiors “seem to have their own agenda.”
Eight days later, Flint stopped using water supplied by Detroit and began tapping the Flint River. The water was not treated with anti-corrosive chemicals and some eventually became polluted with lead from aging pipes.
Glasgow’s email was among about 20,000 released by the governor’s office Friday.
