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 "Our first priority is to make sure the water in Flint is safe,
but we also must look at what the agency could have done
differently," the agency said in a statement. An EPA spokeswoman
confirmed the agency believed it did not act fast enough to address
the problem.
Criticism of the state and federal response has grown in recent days
over the crisis in Flint, a financially strapped city of just under
100,000 residents about 60 miles (100 km) northwest of Detroit.
Flint was under control of a state-appointed emergency manager when,
seeking to save money, it switched its source of tap water from
Detroit's system to the nearby Flint River in 2014.
Flint returned to using Detroit's water in October after tests found
elevated levels of lead in the water and in the blood of some
children. Lead contamination can cause brain damage and other health
problems.
 The more corrosive water from the Flint River had leached lead from
the city pipes more than Detroit water did, leading to the
contamination.
The environmental agency said Tuesday that "while EPA worked within
the framework of the law to repeatedly and urgently communicate the
steps the state needed to take to properly treat its water, those
necessary (EPA) actions were not taken as quickly as they should
have been."
The U.S. environmental agency said its oversight was hampered "by
failures and resistance at the state and local levels to work with
us in a forthright, transparent and proactive manner."
The Health and Human Services Department announced it would lead the
federal government's emergency response to the Flint crisis.
President Barack Obama met on Tuesday with Flint Mayor Karen Weaver
to discuss the issues and reiterated that his administration would
support state and local officials. Weaver met earlier with White
House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and Obama's Director of
Intergovernmental Affairs Jerry Abramson.
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"The situation is anything but being ignored by the White House,"
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, has apologized for the
state's handling of the crisis amid growing calls in the last week
for him to resign.
Snyder and other critics have questioned the EPA's actions. "I think
there are issues at the EPA through the course of all this," he
told National Journal.
On Saturday, Obama declared a federal emergency over the Flint water
crisis but denied an additional request for a major disaster
declaration sought by Snyder.
On Monday, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy defended the agency's
response to the crisis. "EPA did its job but clearly the outcome was
not what anyone would have wanted," she said.
(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Doina Chiacu and Eric
Walsh; Editing by Alistair Bell and Cynthia Osterman)
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