The following reflects the opinion of The Flint Journal Editorial Board.

The Flint Water Crisis has no pending criminal cases today. They’ve all been dismissed.

A year ago, there were cases against at least eight state and local officials.

There have been no significant convictions. No real consequences.

It’s a travesty that there’s no justice, no one held to blame for the poisoning of an entire American city.

It’s our society’s moral imperative to hold people accountable for disasters like this. It’s not enough for officials to say, “We all failed,” and move on.

The water crisis was a preventable, manmade catastrophe, the product of budget-slashers trying to save a few bucks.

It’s been 5 years. Flint still doesn’t trust the water

The leaders in charge at the time – Gov. Rick Snyder, his cabinet heads and the emergency managers appointed to run the city – failed the people of Flint.

And yet no one has been held responsible.

In June, criminal cases were dismissed against Nick Lyon, former DHHS director; Eden Wells, former chief medical executive for the state; former emergency managers Gerald Ambrose and Darnell Earley; DHHS officials Nancy Peeler and Robert Scott; Department of Environmental Quality official Patrick Cook; and former Flint Department of Public Works Director Howard Croft.

Wells has since been hired back at the state and is making a six-figure income in a protected position. Lyon remained in his position until incoming Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took office and changed department heads.

Then there’s the folks over at the former DEQ – now called DEGLE – like Liane Shekter-Smith, the former chief of the state’s Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance. Shekter-Smith’s cases were dismissed last week. Similar cases against Michael Prysby, Stephen Busch and Patrick Cook were previously dismissed. Each had some connection to overseeing or approving plans for Flint’s treatment water plant.

Those four are all poised to get their jobs back – if they haven’t already. Cook, Prysby and Busch remain on EGLE’s payroll, according to Scott Dean, the department’s spokesman. Prysby is back to work. Shekter-Smith is in the process of trying to get her job back, too.

None of this feels like justice.

The message is that it’s OK to do it again. The criminal justice system exists not just to punish, but to deter people from committing similar crimes. Government officials across the country – perhaps the world – can now look at Flint and feel emboldened that they will not face any real consequences for committing grave mistakes at the expense of public health.

It sends a message that when government fails, there will be no repercussions.

Michigan Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud has promised to refile criminal charges, but it’s been more than 200 days and we’ve not seen anything.

Attorney General Dana Nessel has still promised to deliver justice. We’re hopeful but have grown skeptical.

A slew of civil cases were filed in the matter too. We hope those are resolved promptly and judiciously.

The biggest winners in this catastrophe of public health and justice are the attorneys who have reaped, at our last count, more than $30 million of taxpayer money.

This isn’t over yet.

Those bills continue to mount. Even though the water has been declared fit for drinking, city residents are still being advised to drink bottled and filtered water until every last lead pipe is replaced. A generation of children were poisoned by lead in the city water. What happens to them in the years to come? Nobody knows.

The officials in charge at the time of the water crisis have seemingly moved on. But the people of Flint still don’t trust their water, much less their government anymore.

Something really bad happened to the people of Flint.

Surely someone is to blame.