A regional director with the US Environmental Protection Agency is resigning in connection with the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan.



EPA chief Gina McCarthy said on Thursday that Susan Hedman is stepping down effective 1 February. Hedman is administrator of EPA’s region 5, which is based in Chicago and includes Michigan.

McCarthy said she accepted Hedman’s resignation to ensure the regional office remains solely focused on the restoration of Flint’s drinking water.



McCarthy also issued an emergency order requiring Michigan and the city of Flint to take immediate steps after determining that the response by the local governments has been “inadequate to protect human health”.

Meanwhile, Michigan officials say they still aren’t certain whether there’s a link between a drinking water crisis in Flint and an increase in local cases of Legionnaires’ disease.

A report Thursday by the Michigan department of health and human services says nine people died of the bacterial illness between June 2014 and October 2015 in Genesee County, which includes Flint. That’s down from the 10 fatal cases reported earlier this month. Officials say the number was changed after they found some deaths weren’t considered to have been caused by Legionnaires.

Eighty-seven Legionnaires’ disease cases were confirmed between June 2014 and November 2015. About one-third of the infected people’s homes received Flint water, which was found to have elevated lead levels after the city began drawing from the Flint river.