New emails from January 2015 show state workers in Flint were given water coolers with purified water, even as state officials assured Flint residents the water was safe to drink.
The emails were released Thursday by the liberal group Progress Michigan.
They show water coolers were placed next to each water fountain in Flint's state office building so employees wouldn't have to drink the city water.
The emails say quote "the coolers will be provided as long as the public water does not meet treatment requirements."
This was at the same time Flint residents were showing up to council meetings complaining about the brown water and city officials telling them the water was ok.
An official for the state Department of Technology, Management and Budget, which oversees state office buildings, told the Detroit Free Press that state workers were never told the tap water was unsafe, the coolers were just an alternative.
