> replaced with lead-polluted Flint river water,

XKCD386: The river water was not lead-polluted. The river water replaced Detroit sourced water which had been treated with orthophosphate, which inhibits corrosion. Without the corrosion inhibitor lead was leached from water pipes (largely in lateral lines and in people's homes).

> nor have the people responsible been charged with any serious offenses

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis#Criminal_pr...

> Fifteen criminal cases have been filed against local and state officials,[17] but only one minor conviction has been obtained, and all other charges have been dismissed or dropped.

But the guy with authority (local elected mayor, not the state emergency manager) and the engineers/technicians/??? who made the choice not to use corrosion inhibitor, which actually caused the problem, haven't been charged (or the Glasgow guy get let off?) to go after political targets instead and state people who failed to properly detect the mess the locals created.

> and the engineers/technicians/??? who made the choice not to use corrosion inhibitor, which actually caused the problem

As dreadful as it was-- that choice hardly seems likely to be a crime. Negligent sure, but where is the criminal intent? "muhaha I'll make everyone sick!" hardly.

In an event like flint I'd expect the only crimes to be attempts to cover it up, not the event itself. ... and it seems like the the desire to prosecute the people "at fault" caused them to give immunity to the people who actually committed crimes.

Criminal intent? Probably not. Criminal negligence? I'd hope so.

From reading the filings in Walters v. Flint it appears to me that they hired an outside engineering firm to plan their switchover and that firm failed to warn them of any urgent need for corrosion control.

The outside engineering firm argues that they didn't warn flint because they assumed flint would be using corrosion control.

When it became clear that there were serious water quality issues, flint hired another outside engineering firm to review and monitor their system and make recommendations and the second engineering firm failed to identify the lack of corrosion control as a safety issue. They basically said 'you could add phosphates to reduce complaints about discolored water, but you're still going to get lots of complaints about discolored water'.

To me it seems like a lot of the root cause was that they knew and expected the river water source would have serious cosmetic issues, but they felt forced into it. When things started going wrong they kept treating it as cosmetic issues (and it sure sounds that by count most of the complaints they had were cosmetic issues) even though the water was actually unsafe.

With two outside water engineering firms, on top of the city's own staff not catching this... I think the explanation has to be more complicated than someone being criminally negligent.

What you're describing is a dilution of responsibility. The first firm didn't do their due diligence, and assumed that Flint was doing something it wasn't. The second firm didn't do their due diligence, and simply overlooked the lead issue. I don't find this to be terribly convincing; it sounds like the both firms should be on the hook, because they both failed. As water engineers, they should be on top of this stuff. That two firms failed doesn't demonstrate that they shouldn't be responsible, it means that the city hired two incompetent firms which individually assumed and then neglected their responsibilities.

Well, first, intent does not mean desire; and you can intend due to a desire of something else.

So, for example, suppose I'm a driver who takes a bribe so that I expose my passenger to a sniper somehow. I had no desire for my passenger to die - I just wanted the money, but - in some legal systems anyway - it can be argued that I intended the natural consequences of my actions.

Alternatively, even if I have not "intended", I have certainly gone beyond negligence. The commonly-recognized middle level of criminal responsibility is _recklessness_:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recklessness_(law)

There's something inbetween, which

>But the guy with authority (local elected mayor, not the state emergency manager)

doesn't the emergency manager have more authority than the elected mayor? How much did the mayor know and how much power did he have?

>and the engineers/technicians/???

1. the plant manager was prosecuted

2. what's the point of prosecuting non-managerial employees? Did they participate in the cover-up? Were they supposed to predict what was going to happen?

According to the linked Wikipedia article, the water department was under the authority of the elected mayor at the time, despite an emergency manager still involved in other affairs.

Slap on the wrist. If my job was to get you spinach, and I am an expert in that area, and I chose to use animal waste for fertilizer, shouldn't I be held responsible for giving people e-coli if I don't take standard precautions?

Indeed, the lead came from the pipes, but - the river water was such that by the time it got to people's faucets, it became polluted. So, you've split a valid hair.

> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis#Criminal_pr...

So, the city manager hasn't been charged; the prosecutor quashed the prosecutorial team's suggestions of serious RICO charges in favor of minor ones; Snyder is charged with "neglect of duty"; etc.

I also wonder whether Governor Whitmer may not have some responsibility for inaction during her time in office, although I don't know nearly enough US law to make stronger claims here except her failing her public, moral responsibility IMHO.