John dcatherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More informationt oncfound. Org. The Ford Foundation woing with visionaries on the frontlines of socialhange worldwide. Additional support is provided by the abrams foundation, committed to excellence journalism. The park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The john and Helen Glessner family trust. Supporting trustworthy journalism that infod inspires. And by the frtline journalism fund, wi major support from jon and jo ann hagler. And Additional Support from ko and patricia yuen, through the yuen foundation. There is nothing more valuable than water. R. And michigan is blessed to be suounded by more fresh wat than anywhere else on the planet. Theyre calling it the dawn transporting fresh water toline but Officials Say. Wo cities, narrator the idea was to turn all that water into money. A new pipeline could bring economic opportunity, could create regional cooperation, ank it could be, yw, an affordable, healthy source of, of water for our city, longterm. Arrator the proposed piline was supposed to car lowcost, highquality water from lake huron to businesses and homes throhout eastern michigan, including the city of flint. The 27million project should be completed in early y 16. And it was a r this community to take advantage of the Natural Resources that its surrounded by, and that could give, you know, our region a competitive advantage. Narrator instead, the pipeline set in motion a series of events that led to an unprecedented publichealth crisis in flint. Its not safe to drink the water in flintmichigan. Narrator the exposure of thousands of children to leadtainted water would become a nationalutrage. Water has been poisoned with lead for months. I think about this every single day, and i still try to figure out what i could have seen or done or asked, you know, differently. Have Dangerous Levels of lead in the water. But i just didnt er imagine that there would be a failure at ery level of government with something as nkbasic as the safety of dg water. Narrator and overshadowed by the lead psoning was another problem with the water. Most people outside of flint lo at the lead issue as th main issue. Ll but the kier has beengi naires, a people dont know that. T more deaths have been linked to the legionnaires disease outbreak. That was the one that i think they tried to hide the most. Thats the one i still dont think that they want peoplets ouide of flint to know. Narrator ir flint, they still line up for bottled water. Oh, my gosh. Are you serious . Narrator jacqui mcbride started coming here her daughter got sick with legionnaires diseas a severe s and potentially deadly form of pneumonia. Ng dont want the same thi to happen to me. I refuse to drink inom the faucet. Sh oo jay, yold have been here a long time ago. Come on up, come on up. Hey there. Arrator the legionnaires oureak hasnt received much attention outside of flint, despite being one of the largest in u. S. History. But frontline has been investigating the outbreak andst hoe and local officials failed to stop it. Fo r the past two years, t producers ab ellis and kayla ruble ha been reporting in flint. , o, three cases of legionnaires. And theyre a couple of ocks froeach other. Th narrator with their colleague, reporter jacob carah, t team reviewed thousands of pages of healthre cords and government documents; spent months folling the legal effort to hold people accountable; and interviewed local officials, residents, infectiousdisease specialists, and others to trace the story of the deadly outbreak, which began more than knew there was a w crisis in flint. The outbreak started in june 2014, when the first known patienshowed up at a local hospit. W 54 years old, suffering pneumonia. Appeared to be so, for that particular patient, going to the hospital as soon as they had, you know, high fever, cough, diarrhea, k you know, thw that somethings really wrong. They order a special diagnostic test, which isnt routinelyan donethen they know its gagionnaires disease, and its now sort of a racest time to save that patient. Narrator janet stout is one the nations foremost legionnaires specialists and advised officials in flint on how to respo r to the disease, which is caused by inhaling water droplets contaminated with whats distctoutiv legionnaires disease is its severity. Almost all ces are admitted to the intensivecare unit. The other thing thats unique about leonella, legionella so, if you can con then war. Organism in water, you can dmpletely prevent the disease. Narrator thrs later, another man was diagnosed with legionnaires at a hospital in flint. In the week that followed, three more cases at three different hospitals wes reported to the state and county Health Departments. Because its a reportable dise e going to one centralized locationtiwhich is state and county reporting, the ople receiving. At the Health Department receiving this are going, ive not seen g five cases in four weeks, ever. So now you sta to see a pattern. This is not normal. Narrator y midsummer, more than a dozen legionnres cases had been confirmed, rm many as Genesee County would typically see in a yinr. But most people ine lint knew nothing about the growing outbreak, including jaui mcbride, whose daughter jassmine was its youngest known victim. I walked into that room, all i see is this machine, these tubes, my daughter laying there stiff, you know, just stiff. The doctor asked, he said, have you heard of legionnaire . And im, like, no. At the hell is that . Narrator jassmine was 26 and had diabetes, wh, h made her vulnerable. She was admitted to the intensivecare unit. F tst doctor kept saying, well, we dont know if shes o going to make not. I didnt want to hear that. I think the same day she was there, sebody had passed, maybe next to her, and had the same thing she had, legionnaires. Narrator scientists weve spoken to who have examined the legionnaires outbreakoint to a fateful decision, months before jassmine got sick, tobe switch flints water to a nesource. The first dirt turn for the pipeline, ladies and gentlemen crews break grod on the karekaondi Water Pipeline. 74 miles of largediametet pipeline will stretch. Narrator for decades, flint one of the poorest cities in america had bought its water from detroit. Is expected to ct about 230 million. N rator water from the proposed pipeline was supposed to be cheaper. Thank you mr. Councilman and the rest of the council. Narrator a point the countys t water officialia stressed when heame to flint. Ll once its completed, there will be severalndollar Cost Reduction to all of the communities inlved. Saw a great opportunity for this Poor Community to save money. They would have a savings of two million their first year from what they were spending just to purchase water. Keep it on file so that we can begin the committe. Council eventually backed the plan, but officially, they had littli say, because, at the time, the nearly bankrupt citysinances were controlled by the state, which head and approved the pipeline. And so we didnt have controf he water, the decisions nothing. Narrator o help finance it all, flints stateappointed managersad another plan. It has been five decades nce flint used the river for Drinking Water. Today, they opened up the gates to start that process again. Narrator instead of staying on the droit water supply ulile the pipeline was being built, the city temporarily get its water from the flint river. Until a new Water Pipeline is finished from lake huron. Narrator that decision without a vote from the city counl would force the city to activate an old watetreatment plant that had barely been used in half aur ce i certainly still expected that the samsafeguards would be in place no matter at the drinkingwater source was. Narrator but inside the plant, weve learned t lt a foreman named Matt Mcfarland was having concerns. He said, were not ready. He said the plant wasnt ready. The funding just wasnt there. Fi the st wasnt there. There was a lot that would need to be done, and it would take time. Narrator mcfarland died in, 20t while working at the water plt, he regularly confided in s sister ton petrla. This is the first time shes spoken publicly about her brotherconcerns. He would call me, and he would just be so upsetand he would leave me messathat wereweust frantic, like, to a, you have to call me right away. Please call me right away. Mean, he knew that they werent ready for this. A narratothe deadline approached, mcfarland expressed his concerns to his supervisors. One of them, mike glasgow, had coerns, too. He wouldnt speak to us, but in an email, he told state regulators that if the tlant o were to opschedule, it will be against my direction. Later told investigators heve received a response. The city right w is just testing and treating this water. Theyre not using it in the Drinking Water yet. They hope to start doing that in the next few days. Narrar with the openingto of the plant just hours awayho petrella began texting friends at her brothers behest at the water wasnt safe. I remember specifically the day before theactually flipped the switch, he called me, and he said, ton, contact everyone that you kw in flint, anybody you care about, and tell them,k do not dre water. this is our moment three, two, one. He said, its not safe. Were t ready, he said, and people are going to die. Heres tolint heres to flint hear, hear. To nar within weeks, nhe problems mcfarland had been worried about began to appear. Flint is now gettg its water from the flint river. Its not sitting well with some residents and businesses. And this is what is coming out of the tap. Waters brown, had odor. I was covering Flint City Hall athe time. It was a regular sight, like, every week, someonwas bringing in a bottle of water that was discolored. People were telling me as a councilperson that they was breaking out with rash. Ith we cannot drink the water, we etnt cook with the water, let alone brush our that was real quick after the switch, f those signs. The city says residents wont notice a change in quality. The message we keep gettingba ck over and over and over again is, its really not anything to worry about. C fliy Officials SayDrinking Water from the flint river is now safe to drink foren thre city. It was, not a problem, not a problem, not a problem. Narrator but what most of flint didnt know at the time was that the state hadnt required the plant to protect corrosion. Water pipes fm they soon became a breeding ground for legionella, and peop were getting sick. Throughout the summer 2014, cases of legionnairesease kept appearing, reaching over 30 by fall. Boctober of 2014, there would have been enough information to really understand that there was a significant problem in flint. Co that would bided a large outbreak, and that would be an investigatn at wed wa to do right away. Narrator the county Health Department had started looking into the problem. And in emails, state officials were already speculating that flints new water supply may be to blame and worrying that word might get out. Everybody that knows anything out legionnaires diseas knows its in the water. Soou gand test the water. And then you disinfect the water. Thats whats been done virtually everywhere else, except in flint. Narrator no one from theal state department would be interviewed we camera. But a spokeswoman told us theld outbreak cot be definitively connected to the water because, she acknowledged, 14e water was never tested. By the end of 20, there wererm 40 confi cases of legionnaires, and three people had died. Jassne mcbride had been lucky. After three months in thes hospital, she le to go home. When i got out, i h to learn how to walk, talk, eat. W i mean, itas just like being rebornll over again. The oxygen, youre on that all the time, or do yo geto take it. . Sometimes i take it off just to see myself, but im on it all the time. Yeah. Narrator her battle with legionnaires left her heart and lungs weened. Her kidneys were severel damage when we met her in 2018, she neded a transplant, but w healthy though to be eligible for one. Us you j jhad dialysis just now, right . Your lungs are clear. Theyvcleared out the fluid. Narrator her doctor, marcus zervos, had en treating aec chronic skin ion that her weakened immune system couldnt control. My goal with you is to try to get those wounds healed up so that you can get your transplant. Mmhmm. What were doing with this is tissuetirafting. Im really happy with them. They are doing a lot better. Im ecstatic. You know, if i can get them healed over a little be, im going to get you an appointment with those transplantoctors. Narrar while jassmine was recovering back in early 2015, the head of michigans Health Department, nick lyon, met withi one of his epiogists and washown this graph of the legionnaires outbreak. Th epidemiologist noted that it coincided with the switch of the water supply. Lyon asked to be kept informed. Neighbors in flint joined together today to rally ainst the city treatment. Narrator residents were still unaware of the outbreak. City Officials Say the water is safe and theres noto worry. Narrator but at theto suggestion of the state healthal lsdepartment, county offic drafted an alert to medical providers. It was never sent, accordingo internal emails,ecse the person in charge wasnt there. That day instead, just 15 people were notified by email. Atno one in the county or Health Departments would explain why the alert never went out. Its totally unacceptable. There was no notification sent to the medical society. So that. chuckles im trying not to be profane, but thats utt rubbish. Narrator aund the same time, county Health Officials trying to confirm if the waterth wasource of the outbreak reached out to dr. Stout. And i said, call the center for Disease Control and prevention. They will come, they will do the testing that needs to be done. And i thought. E. D narrator emails show the county Health Department wrote to the cdc right away,y, saying they were now up to 47 cases of legionnaires disease and needed help. But state Health Officials had a very different response. They told the cdc they didnt need its help. If they did, theyd get in touch. The cdc persisted, saying they felt a sense of urgency. It was one of the largest outbreaks in years, they said, s and they recommended a full inve igation. Looking through the emails and starting to see how things were evolving, that kind o resource on the ground boots on the ground, particularly helping the Genesee CountyHealth Department, which wasen understaed at the time would have been a game changer for the legionella outbreak. Narrator but the call to the cdc never came, even as more top officials became aware of the problem. Though governor rick snyderst would insistdnt know about the outbreak until 2016, emails show that by march 2015, at least three of his aides and twof his cabinet members had en told about it. And into the summer, it continued. Three cases in may, seven more in june, 13 in july, 13 in august. Tick, tick, tick, case after case afterase. Theres another one, theresr anote, theres ather one. Narrator thered been 90d confirses in the year and a half followinghe water switch. 12 people had died. It i a ver abig epidemic, one of tof largest epidemics ofa legies disease that we know of. Erewe hed rumors that that we could not m, andella we werent getting any communication from our countyth heepartment, definitely no information from the state department. Nt. They were strangely silent. Developing now, a publichealth emergency. Li people in being told not to drink. Narrator but once high lead lels in the water system came public in late 2015,15 state officials had to confront the ct that the water switch was having grave consequences. Blood has risen. Ad in kids i think that really was a pivoidl point,here people paio atteto a community that just used common sense and knew water shouldnt be bt wn and rustylooking. State Officials Say their testing shows lead in the water. Narrator with the crisis erbuilding, the governor o the city to stop using the flint river and return to detroit water. Within mths, snyder and his top officials wod address the legionnaires outbreak. An aide to the governor lled an environmentalngineering professor at wayne state university. He said that the governor was about to go onstage to announce a legionnaires disease ouak, and wanted to know whether orot i could determine if the chae in the water supply was the cause of the legionnaires disease. And i basically told him that i thought i could pull together a thteam to look at this, bu i would have to make some calls. He anaid, no, no, no. The governor is going on in, like, 15 minutes. I need an answer in 15 minutes. Well, thank you for coming today. Im going to share information that has been sharshith the Healthcare Community the past, but hasnt really be put out to the public. Over the course of 2014 and 2015, 20 saw a spike in legionnaires disease. I believe the numbers for the preceding years, before 2014, we had six cases, 11 cases, 13 cases,nd eight cases in 2014, we had 45 cases. And then in 2015, there were 42 cases. Id been writing about flint water for more than a year, and i never heard anything abouti legionnaires disease until th governor went on tv that day. Thank you nartor the republican governor was joined by the states top heal officials nick lyon and the chief medical executive, dr. Eden wells. Most of the time, what its going to manifest is as a pneumonia. This pneumonia wou not they say, we cant concludth the water was the source of legionnaires disease in this outbreak. Mdhhs cannot conclude thatis this increaselated to the water switch, due to the lack of clinical isolates duri the time period and because not all of the cases had exposure to the cityflint water. Well, lets ask the question, what would be necessary in order to make that link . Eeyhould have tested water. This