The FBI has joined the investigation into whether any laws were broken in the Flint water crisis.
The emergency spawned by the disastrous cost-cutting move to a new water source for the impoverished Michigan city had already prompted probes by the U.S. Department of Justice and the state Attorney General’s office.
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The Detroit U.S. Attorney’s office confirmed Tuesday that the FBI is part of a multiagency team probing the contamination. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division are also involved.
The crisis dates back to April 2014, when Flint stopped buying water from Detroit and began using water from the Flint River, which corroded underground pipes, leaching lead into the system and poisoning children.
Residents of Flint were also exposed to chemical byproducts, bacteria and Legionnaires’ disease — but were repeatedly told the water was safe until this fall. Two employees of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality have been suspended, and an administrator with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency resigned because of the debacle, which has left the city of 99,000 reliant on bottled water. This article first appeared on NBCNews.com.
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