The city used the wrong federal standards to treat Flint River water for 17 months, the state's chief environmental officer now says Dan Wyant, director of the state Department of Environmental Quality, said DEQ officials were confused on federal regulations that required the city to make Flint River water less corrosive. Wyant acknowledged the mistake in oversight by his office in a statement issued to The Flint Journal-MLive today, Oct. 19. The lack of treatment of Flint River water to make it less corrosive has contributed to increasing amounts of lead leaching into the city's water supply since April 2014, according to researchers from Virginia Tech university.