Paul Egan

Detroit Free Press

LANSING -- Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder conceded in a Monday interview he's made mistakes in his handling of the Flint water crisis, which he called "a disaster" that reflects badly on him and his administration. But he also blamed entrenched bureaucrats for the lead poisoning and rejected suggestions he resign.

"It makes you feel terrible," Snyder told Ron Fournier of the National Journal, who published a transcript of his interview with Snyder.

"It's a disaster," Snyder said. "It's a mess."

Snyder said the Flint water crisis is "clearly a negative on what we've accomplished since I've become governor." He said he's lost public trust and "that's hard, that's awful."

The governor said he went into public life to improve government and the lead contamination of Flint's drinking water supply "shows there are challenges even when you come in from the outside" and think you can bring new thinking to state government.

"This was a case where we had people who had been in these jobs for years, (who) hadn’t gotten the change memo yet saying there’s got to be a better way of doing things. So they kept doing things the way they have …"

In Flint, the water crisis lingers

He said he didn't think it's unfair to call the drinking water crisis his Hurricane Katrina, which subjected former President George W. Bush to severe criticism about his leadership and response.

Flint's drinking water became contaminated with lead in April 2014 while the city was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager. As a cost-cutting move, the city began temporarily drawing its drinking water from the Flint River and treating it at the city water treatment plant while it waited for a new water pipeline to Lake Huron to be completed.

Previously, the city used Lake Huron water treated by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. The state Department of Environmental Quality has conceded it failed to require needed chemicals to be added to the corrosive Flint River water. As a result, lead leached from pipes and fixtures into the drinking water.

Immediate complaints about the taste, appearance and smell of the water were largely ignored by the state, which also dismissed early concerns about tests showing a spike in lead levels in the blood of Flint children. It wasn't until early October -- months after outgoing Snyder chief of staff Dennis Muchmore raised concerns in a July 2015 e-mail that the legitimate concerns of Flint residents were being "blown off" -- that Snyder and other state officials acknowledged a major problem.

Even then, it was not until Jan. 5 that Snyder declared a state of emergency and Jan. 12 that he mobilized the National Guard to assist with distribution of bottled water and water filters. Although the state helped Flint switch back to Detroit water in October, danger remains because of damage the Flint River water did to the water distribution system. President Barack Obama declared a federal state of emergency in Flint on Saturday.

Obama signs emergency order over Flint water

Snyder, whose office is exempt from Michigan's Freedom of Information Act, told Fournier he is considering releasing all of his e-mails related to the Flint water crisis, as requested by the Free Press, Common Cause in Michigan, and other individuals and groups.

"I haven't made a decision yet. I was just asked," he said.

Snyder conceded that in hindsight he could have acted more quickly and that he's lost the trust of many residents.

"There were multiple failures at multiple levels," he said. He acknowledged he was aware in the summer of 2015 about concerns related to lead in the drinking water but said tests showed they weren't at dangerous levels. He said he and state officials should have been more proactive about getting better information.

But Snyder, who is to deliver his sixth State of the State address on Tuesday, said he won't resign.

"I want to solve this problem," he said. "I don't want to walk away from it."

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