Since the Water Crisis in Flint began in 2014 many believed Governor Rick Snyder was to blame and according to a new study from the University of Michigan, they weren’t entirely wrong.

That study from the University’s School of Public Health shows the Governor is partly at fault.

It shows that complaints from Flint residents were not unknown to him and that he had a responsibility to not only listen but to respond.

“The people have been right, this is true, and he needs to do what’s right for the city of Flint,” Melissa May, from the Flint organization Water You Fighting For.

New research from the University of Michigan shows that Governor Rick Snyder had a legal responsibility to warn the public over the Flint Water Crisis.

The research goes on to state that the local government’s ability to respond was crippled by the state’s emergency manager law.

“We know that Snyder is legally responsible, there’s no way you can take over every single aspect of how to run a city and not be responsible for what happens good or bad,” May said.

May said that Snyder’s inaction was a crime in itself, that needed to be addressed sooner.

She also said the governor should go a step further and not only apologize but also try to financially compensate the thousands of families affected by the crisis.

“What we want to see him say is that ‘I’m sorry that this is happened, and I’m sorry that this was done under my watch, I’m responsible. So here is what I can do to help you move forward, so that way we can get back to whatever normal actually is,’” May said.

The U of M study also casts criticism on the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality for failing to “notify the public of a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak.”

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