How and why has our Government failed at resolving the Flint, Michigan Water Crisis?

I can see not anticipating that the chemistry of the Flint River would induce corrosion in lead pipes. What I can't see is that when it was a known issue nearly a year ago, that it takes this long to issue a health warning and executing some kind of fix.
I can't imagine that they simply ripped out the infrastructure to draw from Lake St Claire like Detroit does. People have a lot of explaining to do, and heads should roll.

A few thoughts:
- Define "government". Are we talking local, state, or federal government or a combination of all three?
- History. I am interested in better understanding how exactly Flint, Michigan got to the point that it is now. A lot of the reporting on this issue either does not address the history or only addresses it superficially.
- Blame. A lot of the media coverage is focused upon fixing the blame rather than fixing the problem. Fixing the blame is useful only in terms of preventing a repeat of the problem and not in fixing the problem itself. I have not seen a single local official (past or present) accept blame for the current problem but the state Governor has accepted blame along with promises to fix the problem and POTUS has appointed a "czar" although no federal official that I am aware of has accepted responsibility.
- Health risk vs saving a few dollars. In this particular instance it is amazing. In concept, however, individuals and governments MUST make risk based and priority decisions every day. The concept is not only basic practice but a requirement for good fiscal government. The key, however, is that these decisions are reasonable and transparent. Not sure these two criteria were met in this case.

This is a very complex issue with a lot of misinformation, but it comes down to someone not deciding to put the anticorrosive agent in the water. The Department of Environmental Quality knew they needed to use the additive based on initial testing prior to switch from Detroit water supply.

The reason Flint needed to change was that Detroit residents hadn't been paying their water bills, and a judge ruled the city had to continue providing water to them. In order to do this they needed to increase the price to their paying costumers. The Flint emergency manager chose to have a pipeline installed to Lake Huron which was going to take two years, and they needed a stopgap until it was complete because Detroit was going to increase their cost by $19 million.

The first issue is who decided not to add the anticorrosive (Emergency Manager, DEQ, or Water Plant). The second is why didn't the DEQ double check to make sure the anticorrosive agent was being used. Third, is why didn't someone blow the whistle on this. The agent would have cost around $100/day to make the water safe, so only around $70K for two years. Still way below what Detroit water would have cost the city. Now the problem is going to be in the billions, and that doesn't even include the lawsuits, healthcare, or longterm care people will need.