Paul Egan, Todd Spangler and Kristen Jordan Shamus

Detroit Free Press

LANSING — Eight days before the Flint water treatment plant began pumping water from the Flint River for citizens to drink, a city official complained he was being rushed into starting up the plant too quickly.

“I do not anticipate giving the OK to begin sending water out any time soon,” Mike Glasgow, the city's laboratory and water quality supervisor, said in an April 17, 2014, e-mail to Michigan Department of Environmental Quality official Mike Prysby.

“If water is distributed from this plant in the next couple of weeks, it will be against my direction. I need time to adequately train additional staff and to update our monitoring plans before I will feel we are ready."

The e-mail was among a huge batch of Flint water e-mails released Friday by the state government.

Despite Glasgow's objections, city officials in an April 25, 2014, ceremony shut off the tap to the Lake Huron water they had been receiving from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department and began drawing and treating water from the Flint River. They planned to use the river as an interim source while they awaited the completion of a new pipeline to Lake Huron, the Karegnondi Water Authority.

Glasgow said in the e-mail he would "reiterate" his message that the plant was not ready to officials above him, "but they seem to have their own agenda."

"I have people above me making plans to distribute water ASAP," Glasgow said in the e-mail.

Glasgow did not respond to an e-mail from the Free Press on Friday seeking comment. A DEQ spokeswoman did not respond to an e-mail asking whether a rush to put the plant into operation contributed to a host of problems with the Flint drinking water.

It also was not apparent what response Glasgow received from the DEQ after he sent his e-mail in 2014.

The plant was beset by problems almost immediately after starting up, with residents complaining about the taste, odor and appearance of the water.

There were problems with e. coli bacteria. Extra chlorine used to address that issue contributed to the water exceeding federal guidelines for total trihalomethanes (TTHMs), which cause a range of health problems, particularly with long-term exposure.

But the biggest issue was a failure to add phosphates or some kind of corrosion control chemical to the drinking water. As a result, the corrosive water ate away at a protective coating on pipes, joints and fixtures and caused unsafe levels of lead to leach into an unknown number of households and poison an unknown number of children and other Flint residents.

There's also a concern that problems with the water may have contributed to outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease in the Flint area, which caused nine deaths.

It isn't clear that the rush to put the plant into operation is a reason that corrosion controls were not used.

Other records released by the state indicate that the Flint water treatment plant only obtained a construction permit to install equipment to add phosphates to the water in late October 2015 and installation was to begin Nov. 9.

There were other indications the switch to Flint River water — timed to meet a one-year termination notice for Detroit water service — was hurried.

In March 2014, a state Treasury Department official reluctantly approved a $676,300 construction contract to help prepare the water plant for operation, despite the fact the city had obtained only a single bid, from Zito Construction.

"Typically, I have concerns about awarding bids to only one bidder," Treasury official Richard Kline said in a March 18, 2014, e-mail to another Treasury official.

"However the city has a very aggressive timeline in order to meet an April completion date before losing service from (Detroit)."

Detroit made offers to Flint for a new long-term contract or interim supply pending the completion of the KWA, but the two parties were not able to reach an agreement.

On April 23, 2014, DEQ official Stephen Busch, who was suspended pending an investigation earlier this year, sent colleagues a set of proposed DEQ talking points for the water switch ceremony to be held in two days.

"The City of Flint is going beyond minimum public health standard requirements to provide drinking water at a level of service meeting its customers' expectations," Busch said in an e-mail to then-DEQ communications director Brad Wurfel, who resigned in December.

Staff writers Nancy Kaffer, Elisha Anderson, Jennifer Dixon, Matthew Dolan, Kathleen Gray, Kristi Tanner and Keith Matheny contributed to this report.

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