None of the five government agencies aware of a Legionnaires’ outbreak that killed nine and sickened 87 people in the Flint, Mich. area have ever tested the water system 16 months after it was identified as the likely source for the outbreak

The Detroit News reports that the lack of water evaluation makes it impossible to know if the city’s switch to the Flint River contributed to the outbreak.

State health officials point to CDC guidelines as their reason for not sampling or testing Flint’s water system, or any other environmental source, for that matter. Health department spokeswoman Jennifer Eisner noted the CDC advises against testing the municipal water system, focusing instead on testing buildings that epidemiological studies indicate are associated with the outbreak.

More details here.