Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder apologized to the citizens of Flint, saying he would take "full responsibility" for fixing the toxic water "catastrophe" that has stricken the town. 
 
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 "Your families face a crisis," the governor said during his State of the State address. "A crisis you did not create and could not have prevented." 
 
 Snyder called the situation a "catastrophe" that no citizen should have to endure and promised to release all of his emails from 2014 and 2015 regarding Flint to the public. 
 
 "I'm sorry I let you down," he said. "You deserve better." 
 
 Snyder outlined the immediate actions that were taken in response to the water crisis, including daily door-to-door distribution of bottled water, water filters, filter replacements and water testing kits. More than 21,000 homes have been visited by volunteers and emergency responders, he said. 
 
 The Michigan government has made budgetary recommendations for Flint to remain on Detroit's water line until the end of 2016, Snyder said. Provisions in the budget recommendation have also been made to replace water supply pipes and fixtures in Flint schools and to fund specialized staff locally in Flint for follow-up care for affected residents. 
 
 "We will provide resources to help anyone and everyone effected," Snyder said. 
 
 Carlos Osorio/AP Photo 
 
 In addition, a request has been made to Michigan legislature for immediate, short-term funding for: replacement of fixtures in schools, daycare and hospitals; treatment of children with high lead levels, including diagnostic testing, nurse visits and environmental assessments; child and adolescent health centers and additional support for children’s health care access; an infrastructure integrity study for pipes and connections, using outside experts; and providing aid to the city for utilities. 
 
 "I give you my commitment that Michigan will not let you down," Snyder said, addressing the residents of Flint after. He also promised that individuals responsible for the water crisis will be held accountable. 
 
 Earlier Tuesday, President Obama and senior White House advisor Valerie Jarrett met with Flint Mayor Karen Weaver, saying that his administration will provide continued support to state and local officials. 
 
 Informative meeting with Mayor Karen Weaver from Flint, Michigan. pic.twitter.com/37mSbxPZsf — Valerie Jarrett (@vj44) January 19, 2016 
 
 On Monday, a crowd gathered outside of Snyder's downtown Ann Arbor apartment Tuesday, calling for the governor to be arrested for "poisoning" the city of Flint, the Detroit Free Press reported. 
 
 Elevated lead levels were found in the water supply in Flint after the city disconnected from Detroit's water line to save money and began drawing water from the Flint river in 2014. The move was intended to be a stop-gap measure until the pipeline to Port Huron Lake was completed for Flint's municipal water. 
 
 Improperly treated water from the Flint River allowed lead to leach from the pipes, officials said. On Saturday, President Obama declared a state of emergency in Flint after a request by Snyder on Thursday. ||||| (CNN) Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder vowed to do everything in his power to solve the Flint water crisis, asking legislators for $28 million to fund a series of immediate actions. 
 
 He also apologized for the crisis during his annual State of the State speech Tuesday night. 
 
 The Republican governor has become a lightning rod for criticism because the crisis unfolded under the state's watch. 
 
 "To begin, I'd like to address the people of Flint. Your families face a crisis, a crisis you did not create and could not have prevented," Snyder said. "I am sorry and I will fix it." 
 
 The additional money would go to help fund the following, the governor said: 
 
 Bottled water, filters, replacement filters; 
 
 Assistance to Flint to help with utility-related issues; 
 
 Testing and replacing fixtures in schools and other high-risk locations; 
 
 Treatment of children with high lead levels; 
 
 Services for the treatment of potential behavioral health issues; 
 
 Support for children and adolescent health centers; 
 
 An infrastructure integrity study for pipes and connections. 
 
 Snyder spoke about the long-term consequences of the crisis, saying the $28 million request won't be the last budget request for Flint. 
 
 He also released a detailed timeline of steps officials have taken already and announced he will be releasing his 2014 and 2015 emails related to the crisis. 
 
 "No citizen of this great state should endure this kind of catastrophe. Government failed you -- federal, state and local leaders -- by breaking the trust you placed in us," Snyder said. 
 
 "You deserve better. You deserve accountability. You deserve to know that the buck stops here with me. Most of all, you deserve to know the truth." 
 
 The governor's address did little to quiet his critics. 
 
 "For those who think $28 million will begin to remedy the Flint water crisis, that is a fraction of the money city residents have paid for poisoned water that they cannot drink," said Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee. 
 
 Flint Mayor Karen Weaver has previously said the costs to undo the damage, both to infrastructure and residents' health, could be between $1 billion and $1.5 billion. 
 
 "Flint deserves an immediate response equal to the gravity of this ongoing public health emergency. A state-appointed emergency financial manager created this problem and the state must step up and do more to help Flint families and children right now," Kildee said. 
 
 Outside where the governor spoke in Lansing, protesters gathered and demanded that Snyder step down. 
 
 Tomeko Hornaday has been a resident of Flint for some 40 years. She said what's happened there is an embarrassment. 
 
 "Just to see the city of Flint just go down for the last decade, you know, with the crime, with no jobs, all the way down to us not having any water," Hornaday said. "We're angry. We want something done." 
 
 #FlintLivesMatter #flintwatercrisis #CNNiReport A video posted by Tamia (@miahunter1) on Jan 19, 2016 at 2:54pm PST 
 
 Easily averted? 
 
 In April 2014, the state, which had appointed an emergency manager to Flint amid a financial crisis, decided to temporarily switch Flint's water source to the Flint River as a cost-saving measure until a new supply line to Lake Huron was ready. 
 
 The Flint River had long had a reputation for nastiness when the state made the switch, and a 2011 study had found that before water from the Flint River could be considered potable, it would need to be treated with an anti-corrosion agent, a measure that would have cost the state about $100 a day. 
 
 Experts say that water treatment would have prevented 90% of the problems with Flint's water. 
 
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 After the switch, residents complained their water looked, smelled and tasted funny. 
 
 Virginia Tech researchers found the water was highly corrosive. A class-action lawsuit filed last year alleges the state Department of Environmental Quality didn't treat the water for corrosion, in accordance with federal law, and because so many service lines in Flint are made of lead, the noxious element leached into the water of the city's homes. 
 
 The city swapped back to the Lake Huron water supply in October, but the damage was already done to the lead pipes. The state is now handing out filters and bottled water with the help of the National Guard. 
 
 'No-good water' 
 
 An attorney representing Flint residents who are suing Michigan officials over what his legal team calls the city's "lousy, no-good water" has a message for state officials targeted in the lawsuits: "Don't fight it." 
 
 The state is responsible for the water woes Flint residents have suffered and continue to suffer as a result, and the only responsible thing the state can do is own up to it, attorney Michael Pitt said. 
 
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 "If you make the mess, you clean it up," he said. "I'm reminding our elected officials of what my kindergarten teacher told me." 
 
 The three lawsuits seek individual damages for Flint residents -- an estimated 500 and counting -- who have complained of health issues and worry about future ailments as a result of the state swapping the city's water source from Lake Huron to the notoriously filthy Flint River in 2014. 
 
 Bill Goodman, another member of the legal team, explained to reporters the purpose of the three lawsuits: The federal lawsuit filed in November addresses alleged violations of the U.S. Constitution; the suit filed last week in the Michigan Court of Claims targets alleged violations of the state constitution; and the suit filed in Genesee County Circuit Court deals with what he called "grossly negligent actions by government officials." 
 
 'Stuff is revealed' 
 
 During the discovery process, Goodman said, attorneys and their clients should receive within six weeks emails and other documents from various government officials, including Snyder, that could shed light on a critical yet heretofore unanswered question: How the heck did this occur? 
 
 "We finally find out what happened. Stuff is revealed that hasn't been revealed," he said. 
 
 Pitt added that the response to the federal lawsuit is due February 1, and that may provide some answers, but he encouraged state leaders to act promptly in providing money to residents who have been inconvenienced, sickened or worse by the water debacle. 
 
 "They need financial aid. Water's great. Filters are great," he said. "But our people need financial aid, and they need it now." 
 
 He further lambasted state officials who, he alleged, learned of elevated lead levels in children's blood in 2014 and did nothing. 
 
 "They were staring at a public health emergency, and they sat on it for over 10 months," he said, further criticizing leaders who assured residents the water was safe when they knew it wasn't true. 
 
 "I don't know how many kids were poisoned because of these false assurances, but we're going to find out." ||||| As National Guard troops patrol Flint handing out bottled water, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder defended his handling of the crisis and defied calls for him to resign. 
 
 “As soon as I became aware of elevated lead levels in blood,” Snyder said on Jan. 14 in an exclusive interview with TIME at his office in Lansing, “we took action.” 
 
 The crisis in the struggling industrial city of 100,000 dates to April 2014, when Flint switched its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River in order to save money. The river water turned out to be highly corrosive to the city’s pipes, leaching toxic levels of lead into water being used for drinking, cooking and bathing. Shortly after the switch, residents began complaining of discoloration in the water, bad odors and health effects like headaches and rashes. Last summer, researchers at Virginia Tech found that the water in some homes contained enough lead to be considered toxic waste. On Jan. 5, months after testing revealed the city’s water supply was unsafe, Snyder declared a state of emergency. Nine days later, the governor announced that he had asked the Obama administration to designate the county surrounding Flint as a federal emergency area. 
 
 What the state and its governor, a Republican who was re-elected in 2014 after helping Detroit emerge from bankruptcy, knew and when they knew it have emerged as critical questions as the crisis stretches into its 19th month. Residents and a growing number of local and national officials have accused Snyder of ignoring a public health emergency, with some calling for him to step down as a result. 
 
 In an interview with TIME shortly before he announced the federal emergency request, Snyder says he first knew about potentially serious problems with the water supply on Oct. 1, 2015, when testing by state environmental officials confirmed elevated levels of lead. Pressed on whether that was the first time he became aware of any concern with Flint’s water, Snyder says, “Obviously, I knew there were water issues in Flint. But did I know there were unsafe blood levels? No.” 
 
 Read more: Michigan Governor Sends Bottled Water to Flint 
 
 In a recently-released email from July 2015, Snyder’s former chief of staff, Dennis Muchmore, wrote to a state health department official that he was concerned that Flint residents believed they were getting “blown off” by state officials. Snyder says the email shows that his office was not neglecting the city, and Muchmore was “concerned that we were getting straight answers so he asked tough questions and he got answers.” 
 
 Asked if he waited too long to declare a state of emergency, Snyder defended the state’s response. “There was some time period where we were offering filters, we were working hard to get water. All these kind of things. But not enough of it was being accepted. Now we’re to the point now where hopefully we’re fully engaged and have everyone working hard to make sure everyone in Flint has access to a water filter.” 
 
 Snyder did fault the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, which repeatedly told Flint residents the water was safe to drink despite reports within the department that some Flint homes showed extremely high lead levels, for “being probably too technical in their interpretation of things or following a traditional pattern of doing things rather than stepping back to look at what else you might see in data.” 
 
 “There were issues in terms of getting appropriate answers,” Snyder tells TIME. “That was unfortunate. It would’ve been good to have that information sooner. And I am responsible for those people. I don’t deny that.” 
 
 Read more: Toxic Water Isn’t Just in Michigan 
 
 Flint has since stopped using the river for its water, but concern remains that the system’s pipes will continue to release lead. State officials are now focused on providing water filters and drinking water to Flint residents. But protesters, who marched onto the Michigan Capitol Building Thursday, say they’re going to keep the pressure on the governor, who admits that it will be a challenge to regain residents’ support. 
 
 “We are working hard to earn their trust back,” Snyder says. “I can appreciate the concerns that they have and we’re trying to work hard to show them that we really do care.”
– Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder admits he lost the public's trust in failing to respond quickly to concerns about Flint's drinking water. "I'm sorry I let you down," he said during his State of the State address on Tuesday. "Your families face a crisis—a crisis you did not create and could not have prevented," he added, per ABC News. "I'm sorry, and I will fix it." Almost two years after corrosive drinking water from the Flint River was contaminated with lead in April 2014, Snyder says he's asking legislators for $28 million to replace water supply pipes in Flint's schools, daycares, and hospitals; treat children with high lead levels; conduct environmental assessments; and more, per CNN. However, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver says the costs to fix the water issues and address health concerns could reach $1.5 billion. "We will provide resources to help anyone and everyone [affected]," Snyder said, noting he takes "full responsibility" for fixing this "catastrophe." He also vowed to release all of his emails relating to Flint from 2014 and 2015. Though some residents claim the state ignored the water issues for months, "we took action … as soon as I became aware of elevated lead levels in blood" on Oct. 1, 2015, Snyder told Time last week, noting bottled water, water filters, and water testing kits were handed out. Snyder lays blame on the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, which told residents the water was safe to drink, though some homes showed toxic lead levels. The department admitted it didn't get the necessary chemicals to treat the corrosive water. Residents have now filed three lawsuits at the federal, state, and municipal levels.