EPA Too Slow to Act on Flint, Inspector General Says

A recently released report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Inspector General details the agency’s lack of swift action in initially communicating the water crisis in Flint, Mich., to the public in 2015.

The report, issued by EPA Inspector General Arthur A. Elkins Jr., maintains that EPA officials had enough information and authority to issue an emergency order under the Safe Drinking Water Act as early as June 2015. At that time, officials knew that “systems designed to protect Flint drinking water from lead contamination were not in place, residents had reported multiple abnormalities in the water, and test results from some homes showed lead levels above the federal action level,” the report states.