EPA says state, city still lag on response to Flint crisis

State and local officials still aren't doing enough to fix problems that caused lead pollution of drinking water in Flint, Michigan — including having enough qualified workers to make sure the city water system functions adequately, a federal regulator said Friday.

Mark Pollins, director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Water Enforcement Division, said some progress had been made toward complying with an emergency order EPA issued Jan. 21 in response to the crisis.

Flint has missed by two weeks a deadline for showing that its water system has enough competent staffers, Pollins said in a letter to Keith Creagh, director of the state Department of Environmental Quality, and other officials.

"To be clear, the city cannot switch to a new water source until there is comprehensive corrosion control plan that is fully operational with optimized corrosion control treatment in place and the system has the necessary staffing and expertise to reliably operate the drinking water plant and distribution system," Pollins said.

Other shortcomings EPA identified included failure to provide data such as lead-in-water testing results and an up-to-date inventory of homes with lead service lines and failure to identify all areas in the city where people have elevated blood-lead levels.