Another big name has surfaced in the tsunami of Flint water lawsuits: the NAACP, which is suing several state officials and two engineering firms, alleging they poisoned a city with toxic drinking water by failing to detect that something was wrong, pretending a problem didn’t exist and ignoring numerous red flags.
“Just the color of Flint’s water should have led any reasonable engineer to the conclusion that Flint’s pipes were dangerously corroded,” the 103-page lawsuit states.
The NAACP announced the lawsuit today, though it was filed on March 31 in U.S. District Court, where at least two dozen other Flint-related lawsuits are pending. This one blames Gov. Rick Snyder, several state officials and two engineering firms for the crisis, claiming they engaged in “gross negligence” and “outrageous conduct” that harmed many. Not only did officials fail to detect a water problem, the lawsuits says, but they made the problem worse by not properly treating the water. And even when they knew the water was tainted, the suit says, public officials repeatedly maintained that it was safe to drink, despite a deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak linked to the water.
