Emails show state employees in Flint received clean water months before residents

Water being delivered in Flint, Michigan.
(Image credit: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

Emails obtained by the group Progress Michigan show that officials in Michigan were bringing in filtered water for state employees in Flint months before acknowledging the city's water was contaminated.

An email from the facilities wing of the state's Department of Technology, Management, and Budget reads: "While the City of Flint states that corrective actions are not necessary, DTMB is in the process of providing a water cooler on each occupied floor." The water would be provided "as long as the public water does not meet treatment requirements." The email was sent days after the city of Flint sent an advisory about high levels of trihalomethanes in the water, but said it was safe for healthy people to drink, Mother Jones reports.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.