Flint water crisis prompts call for more oversight

WASHINGTON — A federal watchdog is calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen its oversight of state drinking water systems nationally and respond more quickly to public health emergencies such as the lead-in-the-water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

In a 74-page report released Thursday, the EPA’s inspector general report pointed to “oversight lapses” at the federal, state and local levels in the response to Flint’s contaminated drinking water. “While oversight authority is vital, its absence can contribute to a catastrophic situation,” the inspector general, Arthur A. Elkins, said in a statement. His office has concluded the EPA was too slow and passive in responding to the Flint crisis.

The finding comes as the Trump administration seeks to cut the EPA’s budget, including some drinkingwater programs. The administration also has called for reining back federal environmental regulation overall and transferring more oversight authority of some programs to the states.

The EPA said in a statement it agrees with the inspector general’s recommendations and is adopting them “expeditiously.”

“The agency is actively engaging with states to improve communications and compliance with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act to safeguard human health,” the statement said. But the internal watchdog said the agency’s proposal for stepping up oversight falls short.

Flint’s tap water became contaminated in 2014 after officials switched from the Detroit system to the Flint River to save money, exposing many residents to lead, a potent neurotoxin. Children are particularly vulnerable, and the EPA said there is no safe level of lead.

EPA officials had stressed they had wanted to foster a collaborative partnership with Michigan, the report said. In Flint, the quest for “partnership limited effective EPA oversight.”

Rep. Dan Kildee, who was traveling to Flint on Thursday to inspect work done on the city’s water system, said the state bore most of the blame for the slow response to the health crisis but also said “the EPA should have been more aggressive.”

“EPA should not have taken the state of Michigan at its word” that everything was fine with Flint’s water, said Kildee, D-Mich. “Water quality is too serious a question … without doing more to assure the rule is being properly enforced.”