Flint — A Genesee County water expert testified Monday that he warned state-appointed officials running this city to not open the Flint Water Treatment plant because it was not quite ready to produce clean water and had employees who weren’t experienced enough to run it.
But O’Brien said Croft insisted the plant was ready ready to go.
Earley and Croft have charged with involuntary manslaughter and other charges connected to the Flint water contamination and the outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in 2014-15.
O’Brien said he asked Busch why the department allowed the city to activate the Flint Water Treatment plant and “his reply to me was that he was directed” to by someone higher up.
“Was the plant at the time you went through it, the Flint Water Treatment plant, in your expert opinion, was the plant ready to be turned on?” asked Special Prosecutor Todd Flood.
As for his interactions with at least three defendants in the case, O’Brien said they would casually discuss “how’s Flint doing” because he was meeting with them regarding Genesee County’s own design of a water treatment plant.
The water plant did not have a “looping” system, which helps “predict the impact on which chemical reaction may or may not occur” in a water system, he said, adding the facility needed at least 90 more days to possibly get ready for use when he toured it.
Cook, a water treatment engineer, is accused of misconduct in office, conspiracy to engage in misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty for allegedly manipulating a Lead and Copper Rule report on the levels of lead in Flint’s water.
Prosecutors also have accused Prysby and Busch of “willfully and knowingly misleading” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulators and the Genesee County Health Department about the treatment of Flint’s river water.
Glasgow pleaded guilty in May to a reduced charge of willful neglect of duty, a one-year misdemeanor, in exchange for his testimony and cooperation in Schuette’s investigation.