Paul Egan

Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder again apologized for the Flint drinking water disaster when he opened his testimony Thursday morning before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Snyder and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy appeared jointly before the committee during its third day of hearings into what caused the Flint drinking water public health crisis and how to prevent a recurrence.

Reading from his prepared remarks, Snyder called the Flint catastrophe a failure at all three levels of government, but also accepted personal responsibility.

"Not a day or night goes by that this tragedy doesn't weigh on my mind," Snyder said in the prepared remarks, released Wednesday.

"The questions I should have asked ... the answers I should have demanded ... how I could have prevented this."

Realization of those shortcomings is why he's so committed to fixing the problem and making sure a similar tragedy is not repeated, Snyder said in the prepared remarks.

Flint's drinking water became contaminated with lead in April 2014, when the city, while under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager, switched its drinking water source from Lake Huron water treated by the Detroit water system to Flint River water treated at the Flint water treatment plant.

The state DEQ failed to require the addition of needed corrosion-control chemicals as part of the treatment process, and the corrosive Flint River water ate into pipes, joints and fixtures, sending unsafe lead levels into Flint homes and businesses. The city returned to Detroit water system in October, but a potential hazard remains because of damage to the water distribution system.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.