Michigan panel offers plan to return safe water to Flint

DETROIT — An advisory panel to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on Friday recommended steps the state should take to restore reliable drinking water to Flint, including hiring an unbiased third party to declare when the system is free of lead.

Separately, Snyder announced the suspensions of two employees of the state Department of Environmental Quality in connection with regulatory failures that led to the crisis.

The task force’s recommendations came a day after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told the state and city that their efforts so far had failed. The agency ordered them to protect public health and act to ensure Flint’s water system is made safe.

The Flint Water Advisory Task Force said its recommendations are more detailed and comprehensive than what the EPA ordered.

“We’ll move as quickly as possible to determine the best way to achieve the results,” Snyder said in a statement. “The Flint water crisis is the result of missteps of government at all levels — city, state and federal.”

High levels of lead have been detected in Flint’s water since officials switched from the Detroit municipal system and began drawing from the Flint River as a cost-saving measure in April 2014. Some children’s blood has tested positive for lead, a potent neurotoxin linked to learning disabilities, lower IQ and behavioral problems.

The panel recommendations included working with the EPA staff on a comprehensive lead-sampling program and seeking help from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in assessing an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease.

A regional director of the EPA resigned in connection with the drinking water crisis on Thursday, the same day the agency’s chief issued the emergency order directing state and city officials to take action to protect public health.

The agency also said that it would begin testing the lead levels and providing the results to the public.