FLINT – The city of Flint has filed a notice of intent to sue the state of Michigan for the actions of the Department of Environmental Quality that led to the water crisis afflicting the city.

The notice was filed March 24 in the Michigan Court of Claims, one day after Flint Mayor Karen Weaver denounced Governor Rick Snyder’s handling of the Flint Water Advisory Task Force report and signaled for the first time great unhappiness with how the state had been handling the response to the crisis.

The notice signifies a total breakdown in the relationship between Weaver and Snyder, who in the initial period after Weaver took office had sought to work together.

The lawsuit names the state, DEQ and four employees in the DEQ’s Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance – Mike Prysby, Steve Busch, Adam Rosenthal and Pat Cook.

The notice, signed by Weaver and Anthony Chubb, the city’s interim chief legal officer, declares that the city switched its water source from the Detroit system to the Flint River in 2014 “in reliance on information” provided by the state that the water would comply with applicable laws and regulations. It notes the DEQ’s guidance to the city not to apply corrosion control treatment violated applicable laws and regulations and resulted in lead from lead service lines leaching into the water.

“The damage to the water system infrastructure caused by the MDEQ employees’ grossly negligent oversight is irreversible,” Weaver wrote.

The notice cites the massive costs the city now faces as a result of the water crisis.

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