Flint water crisis

Rick Snyder and his administration were widely blamed for the decisions that led to the crisis, with numerous people calling for his resignation. He left office on December 31, 2018, due to term limits but was charged with willful neglect of duty in January 2021.|251x251px The following is a sequence of events related to the Flint water crisis. Pre-switch (1967–2013) • 1967–2013 – The city of Flint receives its water from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, sourced from Lake Huron. The city operates under a plan to use the Flint River as an emergency water source. • November 29, 2011 – Three weeks after the city declared a state of financial emergency, Governor Snyder appoints Michael Brown as the city's Emergency Manager, effective December 1. He is the first of four such managers who will effectively take the place of the mayor until 2015, when a Receivership Transition Advisory Board will be appointed. • March 22, 2012 – County officials announce plans for a new pipeline to reduce the costs of delivering water from Lake Huron to Flint. • April 16, 2013 – The city approves the Karegnondi Water Authority contract. • April 17, 2013 – Detroit terminates its water service contract. 2014 • April 25 – A worker named Mike Glasgow, who was a supervisor at the plant, warned the State of Michigan Department of Environmental Quality that he did not think the switch was a good idea. • April 25 – After construction delays, the water source switch to the Flint River is completed. This date is considered the start of the water crisis. • June – although not announced until 2016, an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease begins, and continues through November 2015. 2016 • January 5 – Governor Snyder declares a state of emergency in Genesee County. • January 12 – The Michigan National Guard mobilizes to help distribute water in Flint. • February 8 – Governor Snyder turns down a second invitation to testify at a congressional hearing on the crisis. The model is used throughout 2016 and 2017 to prioritize excavations, yielding a hit rate of about 80%. • November 10 – A federal judge orders the implementation of door-to-door delivery of bottled water to every home without a properly installed and maintained faucet filter. • December 19 – State of Michigan Office of Special Counsel publishes Investigator's Report on Attorney General Case 16-0003 (defendants Earley, Ambrose, Croft, and Johnson). • December 20 – Four officials are charged with felonies of false pretenses and conspiracy. • February 8 – State official Richard Baird informs Flint residents that the year-long state water bill subsidy will end, effective March 1, 2017. • February 16 – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds the first genetic link from Legionnaires' disease to Flint's water supply. • February 20 – The state considers ending bottled water distribution. • March 1 – The state officially ends water bill subsidies for residents of Flint. • March 15 – President Donald Trump meets with Mayor Weaver to discuss infrastructure funding for Flint. • March 16 – Snyder creates the Child Lead Exposure Elimination Commission in an effort to avoid future lead poisoning outbreaks. • April 18 – Weaver recommends staying with the Great Lakes Water Authority, which would reverse a 2012 decision that started the water crisis. Governor Snyder agrees with her decision. • April 20 – At a town hall meeting regarding the crisis, six people are arrested at a Flint church for disorderly conduct and interfering with the police. The meeting is criticized as having violated Michigan's Opening Meetings Act. • April 28 – Weaver announces that the city has plans to remove lead piping at 6,000 homes by the end of the year. The project is funded by a $100 million grant approved by Congress earlier that week. • May 3 – A notice, warning 8,000 residents that their water will be turned off after lack of payment, causes a controversy in the city. • May 17 – It is reported that 128 blood tests in Flint may have registered falsely low lead levels. • June 14 – Attorney General Bill Schuette charges five officials with involuntary manslaughter and one official with obstruction of justice and lying to a police officer. • June 20 – MDEQ threatens Flint with legal action if a water contract is not approved by June 26, 2017. Mayor Weaver calls for the Flint city council to approve a 30-year contract with the Great Lakes Water Authority. • June 26 – After several hours of debate, city council decides to postpone the vote on whether to approve the 30-year GLWA (Great Lakes Water Authority) contract until September 2017. • June 28 – Michigan sues Flint, alleging that the city council's failure to approve a recommendation to buy water long-term from the GLWA is endangering the public. Flint hires an attorney to fight the charges and renegotiate the contract with the state. • July 24 – The Flint Fast Start initiative announces that over 2,500 of the approximately 30,000 homes needing new water service lines have completed pipe replacement. • August 11 – MDEQ releases a letter stating that Flint has "significant deficiencies", which among other issues include source water, financial, distribution system, management and operations. • August 29 – A study published in the American Chemical Society's publication Environmental Science & Technology states that the Flint River was "a likely trigger contributing to the increase in Legionnaires' disease incidence." • September 15 – Water from 138 Flint homes tested during the prior month by Virginia Tech registers lead levels well below the federal guidelines. Marc Edwards states it is likely the last time such sampling coordinated by Virginia Tech will be necessary in Flint. • September 20 – A study conducted by professors David Slusky and Daniel Grossman is released demonstrating that fertility rates decreased by 12 percent among Flint women and fetal death rates increased by 58 percent since the switch to the Flint River in 2014. • October 9 – State prosecutors announce that Eden Wells, Michigan's top medical official, will be charged with involuntary manslaughter for her role in the water crisis, which was linked to an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease that caused at least 12 deaths. • October 9 – Flint city council hires a North Dakota-based environmental consultant for $150,000 to conduct an analysis of the city's potential future water sources. • October 10 – A Michigan Department of Health and Human Services study finds that the Flint River water did not contribute to the increase in infant deaths and stillbirths in Flint. • October 17 – A federal judge orders the city of Flint to choose a long-term water source by October 23, 2017. • October 26 – An EPA report finds fault with Michigan's oversight of Flint's drinking water system, placing the most blame with the MDEQ. • October 31 – The city council votes to extend its contract with the GLWA for another 30 days while a long-term deal is pending. • November 21 – The city council votes 5–4 to sign a 30-year contract with GLWA. 2018 • January – The city contracts a private consulting firm, AECOM, to take over water service line excavations and stops using the machine learning model. During 2018, 10,531 excavations are performed, yielding a hit rate of only 15%. • January 12 – An MDEQ study for the first half of 2017 claims 90% of water samples were at or below 7 parts per billion (ppb) of lead, with an official stating the city's "water quality is restored." Over 30,000 Flint water samples have been tested during the crisis. • February 5 – A Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study on the causes of an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in Flint in 2014 and 2015 finds that low chlorine levels were the cause. Chlorine, which kills microbes responsible for the disease, also reacts with heavy metals like lead and iron. High levels of lead and iron in Flint's water may have been responsible for the decreased amount of chlorine available. • March 12 – Data from MDEQ Quality shows the spike in samples from Flint elementary schools that tested above 15 ppb of lead, the threshold under the EPA Lead and Copper Rule. • March 26 – A study published in The Journal of Pediatrics shows blood lead levels in Flint children ages 5 and younger hit an all-time low in 2016. • April 2 – A new study by the MDEQ reports that elevated lead levels were found in 4 percent of final water samples from Flint Community Schools. One school's results show lead levels at 100 ppb, six times the federal action level. • April 6 – The state announces the distribution of free bottled water in the city is ending. Water distribution centers will close over the next few days, although water and replacement cartridges will still be available. In response, Mayor Weaver says the city plans to sue the state so it can continue. The program was funded through a $450 million federal loan, which had not run out. Michigan planned to end the distribution since tests of Flint's water show low lead levels. The distribution continues until the supply runs out. • April 7 – Hundreds of Flint residents flee to water bottle distribution centers to gather remaining free water bottles. Residents are still worried about drinking water from taps, since not all of the pipelines have been switched. • April 12 – A federal judge approves a $4.1M settlement to be used to test Flint children for lead poisoning. • April 13 – The Natural Resources Defense Council announces the results of tests of 92 homes with lead service lines show the 90th percentile for lead is 4 ppb. • April 23 – Flint resident LeeAnne Walters is awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for her role in exposing the water crisis. • April 26 – The EPA approves a $1.9 million grant to Virginia Tech professor Marc Edwards for nationwide research of lead contamination in drinking water, to ensure of the safety of future generations. The grant will be used to help people where there is a suspicion of lead being in their drinking water but government officials are not acting on it. This project is said to target Michigan and Louisiana initially, and then it will branch out to other areas. • May 10 – Mayor Weaver announces that Nestlé will donate 1.6 million bottles of water (100,000 bottles of water per week) until September 3, 2018. Water will be available to Flint residents at distribution centers throughout the city. • May 16 – Flint Department of Public Works Director Robert Bincsik sends a letter to the EPA saying there are still 14,000 lead service lines in the city, 15% more than previous projections. • June 14 – Michigan enacts the strictest law in the United States for lead in drinking water, imposing a limit of 12 ppb, as opposed to the federal limit which is 15 ppb. This is projected to be achieved by 2025. • June 15 – George Krisztian, an assistant director of MDEQ's Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance, says that Flint's 90th percentile for lead was 6 ppb in the first six months of the year, up since the state stopped bottled water deliveries to the city in April. The MDEQ also says it is ready to turn the testing program back over to the city. • July 30 – The MDEQ announces that in June and July 2018, of the 420 filtered water samples from Flint Public Schools tested, 100 percent were below 15 ppb of lead, and more than 99 percent met the 5 ppb bottled water standard. • August 21 – NRDC and several local groups participate in a hearing regarding two major issues: whether the city can defend its lead service line inventory methods and whether the city should be required to install home water filters immediately following service line replacements to mitigate lead spikes in drinking water. • September 24 – The mayor's office reports that a total of 15,031 pipes have been excavated at homes in Flint. This includes service lines to 7,233 homes that have been identified as lead and/or galvanized steel which have been replaced, including 1,005 homes newly discovered in 2018. • September 28 – A report by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says the Genesee County Health Department failed to help 85% of children diagnosed with high blood lead levels in 2016. • October 5 – Elon Musk donates approximately $480,000 to the Flint school system to pay for UV filtration devices in all 12 schools; installation is expected to be completed by January 2019. • December 26 – In a published interview, governor-elect Gretchen Whitmer pledges to restore free water distribution to Flint residents. 2019 directed state employees to immediately report to their department or agency director any threat to public health or safety. • January 2 – In her first act as governor, Whitmer signs an executive directive requiring state employees to immediately report to their department or agency director any threat to public health or safety, an action inspired by the decisions made by her predecessor's administration that led to the water crisis. • January 4 – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel offers Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy the job of special prosecutor on the Flint water crisis criminal cases, succeeding Todd Flood. Worthy accepts the job on February 21. Flood is reassigned as special assistant attorney general on February 25, while several other attorneys join the prosecution teams. On April 29, Flood is fired by Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud, who claims he failed to "fully and properly" pursue potentially important evidence in criminal cases tied to the Flint water crisis. • February 18 – A report posted online by the MDEQ says the 90th percentile for 51 high-risk homes tested in Flint from May through December 2018 was 4 ppb of leadless than half the current federal and future state action level. • March 28 – The March 2017 settlement is amended to require the city to replace thousands of lead service lines and return to using the machine learning model. By June 2019, the lead pipe hit rate rises to 60–70% for the excavations. • April 23 – Status Coup, an independent investigative reporting network co-founded by Jordan Chariton and Jenn Dize, releases the documentary Flushing Flint, which claims that the water testing by MDEQ was manipulated by MDEQ staff taking water samples after flushing running water from taps for several minutes before taking the samples, contrary to normal procedures for water testing for copper and lead, and by MDEQ staff telling residents that they should take water samples after flushing running water from their taps for several minutes. This would clearly contravene the EPA guidance that samples taken must be "first-draw samples at taps in homes/buildings". • May 30 – A new study by Virginia Tech professors Marc Edwards and Sid Roy published in the peer-reviewed journal Water Research relies on years of data from routine measurements of metals in Flint's sewage sludge, showing a connection between rising levels of lead in city waste, blood lead levels in children and use of the Flint River as a water source. • June – The researchers responsible for developing the machine learning model, Eric Schwartz and Jake Abernethy, form BlueConduit, a for-profit, social venture aimed at leveraging data science and machine learning to find and remove lead pipes around the country. • June 3 – The government-issued phones of 65 state officials, including former Governor Snyder, are seized in a criminal investigation into the crisis. • June 13 – Attorney General Nessel announces that charges will be dropped against eight people and investigations will be restarted in the scandal. • July 31 – The city fails to meet its self-imposed deadline to replace all service lines and defaults to its legally binding deadline of January 1, 2020. • October 10 – The EPA proposes updates to the Lead and Copper Rule, which has remained relatively unchanged since 1991. • December 31 – After falling short of a mandate to submit lead level testing results of at least 60 homes, the city asks for an extension to June 30, 2020, to do so. 2020 • February 21 – To date, 25,042 water service lines have been excavated, resulting in the replacement of 9,516 lead pipes and the verification of 15,526 existing copper pipes. • April 16 – An article is published giving details of evidence of corruption and a coverup by Governor Snyder and his "fixer" Rich Baird, and stating that the statute of limitations on some of the most serious felony misconduct-in-office charges will expire on April 25, 2020. Michigan state authorities deny that a deadline is approaching and say that criminal prosecutions will follow. • June 25 – BlueConduit releases the Flint Service Line Map, which allows users to look at the probability that a particular residence is connected to a lead service line and see the progress of replacement efforts. 2021 • January 13 – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announces charges of willful neglect of office against former Governor Rick Snyder. Eight other people were also named in the indictment. • May 2021 – The Michigan Strategic Fund approved the authorization of up to $700M in private activity financing as part of the "Flint water crisis" settlement agreement between state parties and plaintiffs' legal counsel that received preliminary court approval in early 2021. • July 21 – An investigative report by Jordan Chariton and Jenn Dize published in The Intercept found that several key players in the crisis and cover-up had their phones wiped before investigators could examine them. 2022 • January 17 – In an article for The Guardian, Jordan Chariton and Charlie LeDuff revealed that the prosecution team putting together a RICO case against several government officials for an allegedly fraudulent bond deal, which likely served as the catalyst for the water crisis, was disbanded in 2019 by incoming attorney general Dana Nessel, who launched a new set of investigations but dropped the RICO case. • June 28The Michigan Supreme Court overturned the state's use of one-man grand juries to issue indictments in the Flint water criminal cases. In a unanimous decision, the state Supreme Court found that a one-judge grand jury can be used to investigate, subpoena and issue arrest warrants but it cannot be used to indict an individual. The Flint charges affected by the Supreme Court's decision include nine manslaughter charges against former state health Director Nick Lyon; two counts of willful neglect of duty against former Governor Rick Snyder; charges of perjury, misconduct in office, obstruction of justice and extortion against former Snyder aide Richard Baird; and a charge of perjury against Snyder chief of staff Jarrod Agen. Additional charges included nine counts of manslaughter, misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty against former state chief medical executive Dr. Eden Wells; three counts of misconduct in office against Flint emergency manager Darnell Earley; four counts of misconduct in office against emergency manager Gerald Ambrose; two counts of willful neglect of duty against former Flint Public Works Director Howard Croft; and two counts of misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty against Nancy Peeler, the state's director of maternal, infant and early childhood home visits. • As of mid-July, the city says it has inspected 27,133 service lines and replaced 10,059 lead and galvanized lines. The city also said that is the "final phase" of lead line replacements that the city hopes to complete by the end of the year. 2023 • March – The Genesee County Circuit Court approved the Flint water settlement. • September – After the lower court dismissed the felony charges related to the Flint Water Crisis, the Michigan Supreme Court declined to review the lower court ruling. Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley responded to the Michigan Supreme Court with a complaint and criticism of their decision. He explained that the ruling affected the city's trust in the judicial system and governing body. Flint residents in Atwood also resonated with similar expressions, stating their exasperation over the injustice and lack of accountability from the legislative systems. • October – A Michigan judge dropped the felony charges against government officials involved in the Flint water scandal, bringing the prosecution to a close. 2024 • February – Flint residents reach $25 million settlement with engineering firm Veolia North America. • March – The City of Flint was held in contempt of court for their failure to meet their court-ordered deadlines regarding replacement of water lines and the subsequent requirement to "repair property damage to sidewalks, curbs and driveways caused by the work." On March 13, 2024, an article published in the journal Science Advances reported finding several different measurable detrimental effects of the city's water crisis on the children of Flint's mental health and school performance. • April – The Flint community organized a march on the ten-year anniversary of the water crisis. • August – Water testing shows a significant drop in lead in drinking water. 2025 • On July 1, 2025, the last lead pipe was replaced. ==Background==

Some water service lines in Flint were installed between 1901 and 1920. There are an estimated 43,000 service lines in the city; when the crisis began, these included 3,500 lead lines, 9,000 known galvanized steel lines, and 9,000 unknown service lines. Lead exposure across the U.S. has fallen dramatically since the 1980s, but no blood-lead level is considered completely safe. Children under age five, and especially infants and unborn children, bear the greatest risk of deleterious and irreversible health outcomes. Among the many ways lead can enter a modern American's bloodstream is through lead plumbing. Acidic water makes it easier for the lead found in pipes, leaded solder, and brass faucets to dissolve and to enter a home's drinking water. Therefore, public water treatment systems are legally required to use control measures to make water less acidic. Plumbing that contains lead is often found in buildings constructed in the 1980s and earlier. ==Financial emergency==

From 2011 to 2015, Governor Snyder appointed four emergency managers to control Flint's finances. After 2015, the city continued to receive financial guidance under the lesser oversight of a Receivership Transition Advisory Board. • Background and Initial Emergency Declaration: In the early months of 2011, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder stated that there was a financial emergency in Flint due to shortage in the budget made in the state. Michael Brown was appointed by the state as the first emergency manager below the Emergency Financial Law which granted authority to override local governments. • Water Source Change: To save money, Flint left the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) to join four other municipalities to form the Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA). While the pipeline connecting Flint to the KWA was under construction, Flint water was sourced from the Flint River (April 2014). • Subsequent Emergency Managers: When a city is in a state of emergency, the current governor appoints an emergency manager. During the Flint water crisis, the City of Flint has had four emergency managers: Michael Brown, Ed Kurtz, Darnell Earley, and Gerald Ambrose. These managers were criticized for neglecting the needs of Flint residents and for playing a role in the water crisis. ==Transition to a new water source==

In 2011, Genesee County initiated the switch to the Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA); the KWA would supply water to both Genesee County and Flint. On March 25, 2013, the purchase of per day from the KWA was approved by the Flint City Council. The KWA informed the council that they could dig to Lake Huron (the new water supply) in 30 months using a bored tunnel. Ed Kurtz, Flint's emergency manager, along with Mayor Dayne Walling and Flint City Council, approved the action and awaited the State Treasurer's approval. Following this decision, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) negotiated with Flint officials by offering to restructure water payments. Flint declined, preferring to use KWA. On April 1, 2013, DWSD demanded that the state deny Flint's request, as it would start a "water war", which would hurt DWSD. Drain Commissioner Wright of Genesee County accused the DWSD of media negotiation and then replied, "It would be unprecedented for the state to force one community to enter into an agreement with another, simply to artificially help one community at the other's expense ... this is exactly what the [Detroit Water and Sewerage Department] is arguing". On April 15, 2013, State Treasurer Andy Dillon approved the water purchase contract with the KWA. Emergency Manager Kurtz signed the KWA water purchase agreement the following day. On April 17, the DWSD delivered its one-year termination notice after Flint rejected their last offer. The DWSD expected that Flint would reimburse the investments for the water system that benefited regional customers. Flint and Genesee County rejected such responsibility but indicated their willingness to purchase pipelines. In April 2014, to save about $5 million in two years, Flint started treating water from the Flint River instead of purchasing Lake Huron water from Detroit. Previously, the Flint River was the backup water source. In June 2014, Flint's Emergency Manager Darnell Earley finalized the sale of a section of water pipeline to Genesee County for $3.9 million. This pipeline fed DWSD water into the county, and after the KWA pipeline was active, would service the eastern part of the county as well. By December 2014, the city had invested $4 million into its water plant. It was later reported that by not adding a corrosion inhibitor, Flint was going to save about $140 per day. ==Early water contamination==

After the permanent switch to the Flint River, city residents began complaining about the color, taste, and odor of their water. In August and September 2014, city officials detected high levels of coliform bacteria, so residents were advised to boil their water. MDEQ determined that cold weather, aging pipes, and a population decline were the cause of these bacteria. According to Stephen Busch, an MDEQ district supervisor, the city took appropriate measures to limit a recurrence. General Motors (GM) made the first complaint about the corrosivity of the water. GM stopped using Flint water in October 2014, after reporting that the water was corroding car parts. General Motors requested to switch back to the DWSD water source, which was later approved by city officials. Prior to August 2014, additional chlorine had been added to eliminate bacteria from the Flint River. This is likely the cause of a spike in trihalomethanes, unsafe chlorine byproducts, in one of eight water locations. Long-term exposure to these chemicals has been linked to cancer and other diseases. Following this test, the MDEQ placed Flint on violation notice but did not reveal the information to residents until January 2015. The employees of the Flint Public Library declared the water undrinkable after noticing that it was discolored, despite the city's claim that the water was safe. Since 2014, the library has provided safe water for the public alongside the state's most prominent bottled water provider. January and February 2015 tests showed that the city water met all health and safety standards. Nevertheless, the DWSD offered to reconnect Flint, waiving a $4 million connection fee, but was declined by Emergency Manager Jerry Ambrose. MDEQ officials indicated that there is no "imminent threat to public health", as the nature of the issue was "communicated poorly". Subsequently, Flint started adding additional orthophosphate to the water to rebuild the pipe lining. On October 8, 2015, Snyder requested that Michigan legislators contribute $6 million of the $12 million for Flint to return to Lake Huron water. The city of Flint would pay $2 million, and the Flint-based Charles Stewart Mott Foundation would pay $4 million. Jim Ananich, the State Senator representing Flint, demanded that the state refund the $2 million to the city. Ananich also requested further emergency funding from the state and long-term funding to address the effects of the lead contamination. On March 2, 2016, Michigan declared that returning to the Detroit water system must be approved by the state. When approved, the city was granted an emergency loan of $7 million. On September 27, 2016, Flint officials announced that the city will continue to use Detroit water until a new stretch of pipeline is constructed and the Flint River is tested and treated by the KWA. From August 2015 to November 2016, median water lead levels began to go down again depending on the type of water service pipes each home had. In homes with copper pipes, the median water lead level dropped from 3.0 micrograms per liter (μg/L) to <1 μg/L; galvanized steel service lines dropped from a median water lead level of 7.2 μg/L to 1.9 μg/L, and lead service lines dropped from a median water lead level of 9.9 μg/L to 2.3 μg/L. 1 μg/L is equivalent to 1 part per billion. On December 9, 2016, the MDEQ reported that more than 96 percent of water samples in Flint residencies were below the EPA lead threshold of 15 ppb. On March 15, 2017, the Genesee County Water and Waste Services Advisory Board voted to construct a new pipeline; it would be a , connector to the KWA pipeline. The pipeline would allow the treatment of raw Lake Huron water, so the city of Flint could continue to buy pre-treated water from the Great Lakes Water Authority. The $12 million project will allow Flint to remain a customer of the GLWA until at least 2019. ==Lead exposure findings==

In January 2015, a public meeting was held, where citizens complained about the "bad water". Residents complained about the taste, smell, and appearance of the water for 18 months before a Flint physician found elevated blood lead levels in the children of Flint. During that time period, MDEQ had insisted the water was safe to drink. A study by Virginia Tech researchers (see section below) determined that the river water, which, due to higher chloride concentration, is more corrosive than the lake water, was leaching lead from aging pipes. Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, an environmental toxicologist based in Ann Arbor, said this level of lead exposure is comparable with what the Iraqi people have experienced since the U.S. occupation in 2003. While the local outcry about Flint water quality was growing in early 2015, Flint water officials filed papers with state regulators purporting to show that "tests at Flint's water treatment plant had detected no lead and testing in homes had registered lead at acceptable levels." The documents falsely claim that the city had tested tap water from homes with lead service lines, and therefore the highest lead-poisoning risks; however, the city did not know the locations of lead service lines, which city officials acknowledged in November 2015 after the Flint Journal/MLive published an article revealing the practice, using documents obtained under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act. The Journal/MLive reported that the city had "disregarded federal rules requiring it to seek out homes with lead plumbing for testing, potentially leading the city and state to underestimate for months the extent of toxic lead leaching into Flint's tap water." In a report released on March 1, 2016, 37 of the 423 recently tested sentinel sites had results above the 15 ppb limit. Eight of the samples exceeded 100 ppb. A 2017 study showed that significantly more samples exceeded the 15 ppb limit in the voluntary or homeowner-driven sampling program whereby concerned citizens decided to acquire a testing kit and conduct sampling on their own (non-sentinel sites). According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), lead poisoning has long-lasting and often fatal effects, and there is no safe level of lead exposure in water that people can consume. Lead is dangerous given that it can harm almost all of the body's organs, even at doses as low as just five parts per billion. Children are especially at risk, as exposure can end up in anemia, declined growth, hyperactivity, behavioral and learning issues, and even more. ==Studies==

Hurley Medical Center study I (2015) led the first Hurley Medical Center lead poisoning study. On September 24, 2015, Hurley Medical Center in Flint released a study led by Mona Hanna-Attisha, the program director for pediatric residency at Hurley Children's Hospital, confirming that the proportion of infants and children with elevated levels of lead in their blood had nearly doubled since the city switched from the Detroit water system to using the Flint River as its water source. Hanna-Attisha's research found that the average proportion of Flint children with elevated blood-lead levels (above five micrograms per deciliter, or 5 grams per 100 milliliters of blood) rose from 2.4% (2013, before the change in water source) to 4.9% (2015, after the change in water source). In areas where water lead levels were considered high at ≥ 15 ppb, which is the maximum amount of lead allowed in water per the Safe Drinking Water Act Lead and Copper Rule, the average proportion of Flint children with elevated blood-lead levels rose from 4% to 10.6%. Hurley Medical Center study II (2018) In June 2018 the Journal of Pediatrics published a much expanded study of blood lead levels measured at Hurley Medical Center. The original 2015 study of Hurley records involved a total of 1,473 children "younger than 5 years" whose address could be mapped to a site inside Flint in two pre/post 8.5 month periods. The 2018 study, led by Hernán F. Gómez, involved 15,817 children "aged ≤ 5 years" over the 11-year period 2006–2016. Data for 2012–2016 were available from center's Epic EMR system; records for earlier years were scrounged from legacy systems. The results show an increase in the fraction of children with elevated lead blood levels immediately pre/post the water switch (from 2.2% to 3.7%); invoking a Bonferroni correction, Gómez argues the change is not statistically significant. These results are consistent with a CDC report which found that the fraction of "all children under age 6" with elevated lead blood level "was nearly 50 percent higher after the switch to Flint River water". The striking result of Gómez et al. however is that during the 11-year period, the "crisis years" are actually the third and fourth lowest years for lead blood levels. That is, the upward blip during the water switch sits on a rapid declining curve (presumably because of the many lead mitigation projects that have been initiated nationally) so that blood lead levels during the crisis are actually lower than those two years earlier. Virginia Tech water study led the first Virginia Tech Flint water study. In September 2015 a team from Virginia Tech arrived in Flint. Led by Marc Edwards, an expert on municipal water quality, the team came to perform lead level testing on the Flint water supply, working under a National Science Foundation grant. Edwards had been contacted by Flint resident LeeAnne Walters, whose family had extreme health problems almost immediately following the switch to the Flint River water. Walters had attempted to act locally, but she was repeatedly ignored by city, state, and EPA officials. The study found that Flint water was "very corrosive" and "causing lead contamination in homes". It concluded in its report that "Flint River water leaches more lead from plumbing than does Detroit water. This is creating a public health threat in some Flint homes that have lead pipe or lead solder." Edwards was shocked by the extent of the contamination, but even more so by the inaction of the proper authorities after being made well aware of the contamination. Edwards and his team found that at least a quarter of Flint households had levels of lead above the federal level of 15 ppb and that in some homes, lead levels were at 13,200 ppb. Edwards said, "It was the injustice of it all and that the very agencies that are paid to protect these residents from lead in water, knew or should've known after June at the very very latest of this year, that federal law was not being followed in Flint, and that these children and residents were not being protected. And the extent to which they went to cover this up exposes a new level of arrogance and uncaring that I have never encountered." On January 11, 2016, the Virginia Tech research team led by Edwards announced that it had completed its work. Edwards said, "We now feel that Flint's kids are finally on their way to being protected and decisive actions are under way to ameliorate the harm that was done." Edwards credited the Michigan ACLU and the group Water You Fighting For with doing the "critical work of collecting and coordinating" many water samples analyzed by the Virginia Tech team. Although the labor of the team (composed of scientists, investigators, graduate students, and undergraduates) was free, the investigation still spent more than $180,000 for such expenses as water testing and payment of Michigan Freedom of Information Act costs. A GoFundMe campaign has raised over $116,000 of the $150,000 needed for the team to recover its costs. On January 27, the city of Flint retained Edwards to monitor the city's water testing efforts. On March 1, 2016, the Virginia Tech team was given $80,000 from an EPA grant to re-test the lead levels in 271 Flint homes. On August 11, 2016, Kelsey Pieper, a member of Edwards' research team, said 45 percent of residents that collected samples in July for the lead testing program had no detectable level of particulate lead in their water supply. She added the study yielded a lead reading of 13.9 ppb, just below the federal action level of 15 ppb. However, Pieper acknowledged the sampling, which was conducted by volunteer residents, does not fulfill the testing requirements of the federal Lead and Copper Rule. State testing of the most-recent six month monitoring period, which began January 1 and complied with Lead and Copper Rule regulations, showed a 90th percentile lead reading of 20 ppb, which exceeds the federal action level. Roughly 93 percent of samples from the third round of expanded state sentinel site testing showed results below the lead action level. Edwards called the results the "beginning of the end" of the public health disaster associated with the water crisis. On December 2, 2016, Edwards said lead was not detected in 57 percent of 154 Flint homes tested in November 2016 – up from 44 percent in July 2016. He also advised people to continue using filters. Other test results On January 24, 2017, the MDEQ told Mayor Weaver that the lead content of Flint water had fallen below the federal limit. The 90th percentile of lead concentrations in Flint was 12 ppb from July 2016 through December 2016—below the "action level" of 15 ppb. It was 20 ppb in the prior six-month period. On the next day, Flint spokeswoman Kristin Moore said that anywhere from 18,000 to 28,000 homes in the city still needed service lines replaced, and that the city was planning to complete 6,000 homes per year through 2019. On March 7, 2017, MDEQ reported that Flint water sampled in February registered below the federal threshold for lead with 90 percent of samples at or below 8 ppb. February's water tests marked the seventh straight month in which city water was below the action level. February's testing also showed 95.8 percent of samples taken at homes at risk of high lead levels were at or below 15 ppb. On June 9, 2017, the MDEQ reported their May 2017 testing showed 90 percent of Tier I samples at or below 6 ppb of lead with 93.1 percent of the samples at or below 15 ppb. On April 23, 2019, Status Coup released the documentary Flushing Flint which claimed that the water testing conducted by MDEQ was falsified by MDEQ staff taking water samples after flushing running water from taps for several minutes before taking the samples, contrary to normal procedures for water testing, and by MDEQ staff telling residents that they should take water samples after flushing running water from their taps for several minutes. This would clearly contravene the EPA guidance that samples taken must be "first-draw samples at taps in homes/buildings". These claims cast doubt on the MDEQ reports of improvements in water quality over previous years. ==Possible link to Legionnaires' disease spike==

On January 13, 2016, Snyder said that 87 cases of Legionnaires' disease, a waterborne disease, were reported in Genesee County from June 2014 – November 2015, resulting in 12 deaths (two more people later died from the disease). Although the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) said that there is no evidence of a clear link between the spike in cases and the water system change, Edwards stated the contaminated Flint water could be linked to the spike. In a second report released January 21, state researchers had still not pin-pointed the source of the outbreak. The next day, an official at McLaren Regional Medical Center in Flint confirmed that there was a spike in Legionella cases in Flint and elsewhere in Genesee County, but noted that there was "no definitive data to support that McLaren Flint is the source of exposure for any patient testing positive for the Legionella antigen." The family of one of the people who died of Legionnaires filed a $100 million lawsuit against McLaren. The Flint Journal obtained documents via the Michigan Freedom of Information Act on the Legionnaires' outbreak and published an article on them on January 16, 2016. The documents indicated that on October 17, 2014, employees of the Genesee County Health Department and the Flint water treatment plant met to discuss the county's "concerns regarding the increase in Legionella cases and possible association with the municipal water system." By early October 2014, officials at MDEQ were aware of a possible link between the water in Flint and the Legionnaires' outbreak, but the public was never informed, and the agency gave assurances about water safety in public statements and at public forums. An internal email on January 27, 2015, from a supervisor at the health department said that the Flint water treatment plant had not responded in months to "multiple written and verbal requests" for information. In January 2015, following a breakdown in communication between the city and the county on the Legionnaires' investigation, the county filed a FOIA request with the city, seeking "specific water testing locations and laboratory results ... for coliform, E-coli, heterotrophic bacteria and trihalomethanes" and other information. In April 2015, the county health department contacted the CDC, and in April 2015 a CDC employee wrote in an email that the Legionnaires' outbreak was "very large, one of the largest we know of in the past decade and community-wide, and in our opinion and experience it needs a comprehensive investigation." However, MDHHS told the county health department at the time that federal assistance was not necessary. Emails obtained by Progress Michigan in February 2016 indicate Snyder's office knew about the outbreak since March 2015, despite Snyder's claim he was only informed in January 2016. On March 11, 2016, Governor Snyder ordered an investigation of the MDHHS regarding the outbreak. On February 16, 2017, the CDC discovered the first genetic links between city water and patients diagnosed with Legionnaires' disease in Genesee County. "The presence of Legionella in Flint was widespread," said Janet Stout, a research associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh and a national expert on the disease. "The (laboratory) results show that strains (of the bacteria) were throughout the water system." Virginia Tech researcher Amy Pruden published a study that found Legionella levels up to 1,000 times higher than normal tap water in Flint, and said finding a patient whose clinical isolates—or bacteria—matched the McLaren water sample without having been hospitalized there "suggests that same strain may have been elsewhere." On March 10, 2017, affidavits filed by experts in court supported the conclusion that Flint water was connected to the Legionnaires' disease outbreak. Janet Stout wrote in an affidavit: "(It) is my opinion to a reasonable degree of probability that the source water change and the subsequent management of the municipal water system caused conditions to develop within the municipal water distribution system that promoted Legionella growth and dispersion, amplification, and the significant increases in cases of Legionnaires' disease in Genesee County in 2014 and 2015." J. David Krause, director of Forensic Analytical Consulting Services, and Hung K. Cheung, a doctor specializing in environmental and occupational medicine agreed with her claims. On February 5, 2018, a study published in the journals Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and mBio concluded that the 2014–2015 outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in Flint was caused by low levels of chlorine which, at higher levels, would have made it difficult for bacteria to replicate. Because chlorine reacts with heavy metals like lead and iron, high levels of both in Flint's water may have been responsible for the decreased amount of chlorine available. On December 4, 2019, research institute KWR from the Netherlands published the results of their re-investigation of the outbreak in Environmental Health Perspectives. They found evidence for three sources: strong evidence for exposure to a Flint hospital in 2014 and 2015 for 42 of 86 confirmed cases, and weaker evidence for exposure to city water at home or living in the proximity of a specific cluster of cooling towers, both only in 2014. Each source could be associated with only a proportion of cases. They concluded that focus on a single source may have delayed recognition and remediation of other significant sources of L. pneumophila and provided recommendations to improve Legionella prevention. ==Inquiries, investigations, resignations, and release of documents==

One focus of inquiry is when Snyder became aware of the issue, and how much he knew about it. In a July 2015 email, Dennis Muchmore (Snyder's chief of staff) wrote to a Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) official, "I'm frustrated by the water issue in Flint. I really don't think people are getting the benefit of the doubt. These folks are scared and worried about the health impacts and they are basically getting blown off by us (as a state we're just not sympathizing with their plight)." In a separate email sent on July 22, 2015, MDHHS local health services director Mark Miller wrote to colleagues that it "Sounds like the issue is old lead service lines." These emails were obtained under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act by Virginia Tech researchers studying the crisis and were released to the public in the first week of January 2016. The Department of Public Works said that it was trying to transition the data into an electronic spreadsheet program, but as of October 1, 2015, only about 25% of the index card information had been digitized. On December 29, 2015, the Task Force released its preliminary report, saying that MDEQ bore ultimate blame for the Flint water crisis. The task force wrote that the MDEQ's Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance adopted a "minimalist technical compliance approach" to water safety, which was "unacceptable and simply insufficient to the task of public protection". The task force also found that "Throughout 2015, as the public raised concerns and as independent studies and testing were conducted and brought to the attention of MDEQ, the agency's response was often one of aggressive dismissal, belittlement, and attempts to discredit these efforts and the individuals involved. We find both the tone and substance of many MDEQ public statements to be completely unacceptable." The task force also found that MDEQ has failed to follow the federal Lead and Copper Rule. That rule requires "optimized corrosion control treatment", but MDEQ staff instructed city of Flint water treatment staff that corrosion control treatment (CCT) would not be necessary for a year. The task force found that "the decision not to require CCT, made at the direction of the MDEQ, led directly to the contamination of the Flint water system". The task force's findings prompted the resignation of MDEQ director Dan Wyant and communications director Brad Wurfel. Flint Department of Public Works director Howard Croft also resigned. On January 8, 2016, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said that it was investigating. The EPA "battled Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality behind the scenes for at least six months over whether Flint needed to use chemical treatments to keep lead lines and plumbing connections from leaching into drinking water" and "did not publicize its concern that Flint residents' health was jeopardized by the state's insistence that such controls were not required by law". In 2015, EPA water expert Miguel A. Del Toral "identified potential problems with Flint's drinking water in February, confirmed the suspicions in April and summarized the looming problem" in an internal memo circulated on June 24, 2015. the memo was not publicly released until November 2015, after a revision and vetting process. Marc Edwards, who investigated the lead contamination, wrote that Del Toral had made a "heroic effort" that was stymied by the EPA and MDEQ spending months "wrangling over jurisdiction, technicalities and legalities". In an interview with the Detroit News published on January 12, 2016, Hedman said that "the recommendation to DEQ (regarding the need for corrosion controls) occurred at higher and higher levels during this time period. And the answer kept coming back from DEQ that 'no, we are not going to make a decision until after we see more testing results. Hedman said the EPA did not go public with its concerns earlier because (1) state and local governments have primary responsibility for drinking water quality and safety; (2) there was insufficient evidence at that point of the extent of the danger; and (3) the EPA's legal authority to compel the state to take action was unclear, and the EPA discussed the issue with its legal counsel, who only rendered an opinion in November. Hedman said the EPA discussed the issue with its legal counsel and urged the state to have MDHHS warn residents about the danger. Assessments of the EPA's action varied. Edwards said that the assessment in Del Toral's original June memo was "100 percent accurate" and criticized the EPA for failing to take more immediate action. State Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, Democrat of Flint, said, "There's been a failure at all levels to accurately assess the scale of the public health crisis in Flint, and that problem is ongoing. However, the EPA's Miguel Del Toral did excellent work in trying to expose this disaster. Anyone who read his memo and failed to act should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law." On January 15, 2016, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced that his office would open an investigation into the crisis, saying the situation in Flint "is a human tragedy in which families are struggling with even the most basic parts of daily life". To oversee his office's probe, Schuette appointed Todd Flood as special prosecutor and Andrew Arena as chief investigator, who led a team of nine full-time investigators. At a media roundtable in February 2016, Flood said that the investigation could result in involuntary manslaughter charges, if there was gross negligence leading to a death. Critics have questioned the objectivity of the investigation. In his annual State of the State address on January 19, 2016, Snyder announced that he would release all of his emails from 2014 and 2015 regarding the crisis. Emails highlighted by Progress Michigan in January 2016 indicate that Michigan state officials were trucking in bottled water to some of their own employees stationed in Flint as early as January 2015 in regards to the unsafe levels of trihalomethanes. On January 22, 2016, two MDEQ employees (Liane Shekter Smith, former chief of the department's Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance; and Steve Busch, former district supervisor in the division) were suspended, pending an investigation, as a result of questions regarding actions related to water testing in Flint. In response, Snyder said, "Michiganders need to be able to depend on state government to do what's best for them and in the case of the DEQ that means ensuring their drinking water is safe. Some DEQ actions lacked common sense and that resulted in this terrible tragedy in Flint. I look forward to the results of the investigation to ensure these mistakes don't happen again." Smith was fired on February 5, 2016. On January 25, 2016, the Genesee County Commission approved a request from Genesee County Prosecuting Attorney David Leyton for $25,000 to conduct an investigation into the crisis. The money will be used to hire two special prosecutors. On February 12, 2016, Governor Snyder released additional emails between his office and the MDEQ which about the Legionnaires' outbreak. On February 26, Snyder's office released several thousand more emails regarding the crisis that date back to 2011. An additional batch of emails was released on March 10. On March 4, 2016, a report released by the Michigan Auditor General's office called the MDEQ's Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance "not sufficient" in its oversight of the state's Community Water Supply Program. On July 13, 2016, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy sued MDEQ over the department's 121-day delay in responding to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests surrounding Flint, including a request for all emails from Shekter-Smith and Bush from 2013 through 2015 containing the word "Flint" and a list of "any employees transferred, reassigned, or suspended as a result of the Flint water issues". The case was settled in November 2017, with a joint statement saying in part, "The parties also note there are circumstances for which the FOIA currently lacks certainty when documents must be provided. This lack of clarity can foster litigation over what response times are reasonable." On April 16, 2020, an article was published giving details of evidence of corruption and a coverup by Snyder and his "fixer" Rich Baird, and stating that the statute of limitations on some of the most serious felony misconduct-in-office charges would expire on April 25, 2020. Responses from Michigan state authorities denied that a deadline was approaching and said that criminal prosecutions would follow. ==Legislative hearings==

Federal On January 14, 2016, U.S. Representative Brenda Lawrence formally requested congressional hearings on the crisis, saying: "We trust our government to protect the health and safety of our communities, and this includes the promise of clean water to drink." The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform began their hearings on the crisis on February 3. U.S. Representative Dan Kildee from Flint gave an opening statement. The first witnesses were EPA acting deputy assistant administrator Joel Beauvais, Marc Edwards, new MDEQ Director Keith Creagh, and Flint resident LeeAnne Walters (who alerted EPA water expert Miguel A. Del Toral to the problem). On March 15, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee examining the Flint water crisis revealed the EPA, state, and municipal officials attempted to fix the situation behind the scenes according to hearing witness and former EPA regional administrator, Susan Hedman, who cited legal and enforcement challenges as the causes for her actions. Ex-Emergency Financial Manager Darnell Earley, Former Fint Mayor Dayne Walling, and Professor Marc Edwards also testified on that date's hearing. Governor Snyder and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy testified before that committee on March 17. On February 10, 2016, a separate committee, the U.S. House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, held a hearing on the crisis in which Hurley Medical Center pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha; Yanna Lambrinidou, president of Parents for Nontoxic Alternatives, an environmental health group; Flint schools Superintendent Bilal Kareem Tawwab; Eric Scorsone, an expert in local government finances from Michigan State University, and Mayor Karen Weaver testified. On April 13, 2016, the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy and Energy Subcommittee on Health held a joint hearing on the crisis in which Keith Creagh of MDEQ, Nick Lyon from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and Mona Hanna-Attisha of Hurley Medical Center testified. State On February 23, 2016, the Michigan State Legislature started a committee to investigate the crisis. On March 1, one of its members, Senator Jim Ananich of Flint, introduced a resolution that would grant state lawmakers probing the Flint water crisis subpoena power over the governor's office, which is immune to the state Freedom of Information Act. The committee's first hearing was on March 15, 2016. On March 29, 2016, the state's Joint Committee on the Flint Water Public Health Emergency held a hearing on the crisis in Flint during which residents and local experts testified. ==State of emergency and emergency responses==

Local declared the city to be in a state of emergency on December 15, 2015. On December 15, 2015, Mayor Weaver declared the water issue as a citywide public health state of emergency to prompt help from state and federal officials. Weaver's declaration said that additional funding will be needed for special education, mental health, juvenile justice, and social services because of the behavioral and cognitive impacts of high blood lead levels. Starting on January 7, 2016, Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell had work crews of offenders sentenced to community service begin delivering bottled water, water filters and replacement cartridges, primarily to residents living in homes built between 1901 and 1920, whose plumbing systems were most likely leaching lead into the water. The next week, he ordered his department to begin using reverse 911 to advise homebound residents on how to get help. On January 10, Mayor Weaver stressed to residents that it was important to also pick up the testing kits, as the city would like to receive at least 500 water test samples per week. On January 12, officers from the Michigan State Police and Genesee County Sheriff's Department started delivering cases of water, water filters, lead testing kits and replacement cartridges to residents who needed them. The American Red Cross has also been deployed to Flint to deliver bottled water and filters to residents. On January 14, it was announced that Mona Hanna-Attisha would lead a Flint Pediatric Public Health Initiative that includes experts from the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Hurley Children's Hospital, the Genesee County Health Department, and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to help Flint children diagnosed with lead poisoning. State On January 5, 2016, Governor Snyder declared Genesee County to be in a state of emergency. On January 6, Snyder ordered the Michigan Emergency Operations Center, operated by the Michigan State Police Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division, to open a Joint Information Center to coordinate public outreach and field questions from the residents about the problems caused by the crisis. The State Emergency Operations Center recommended that all Flint children under six years old get tested for lead levels as soon as possible, either by a primary care physician or the Genesee County Health Department. They also advised residents to call the United Way to receive additional help if needed. On January 11, Snyder signed an executive order creating a new committee to "work on long-term solutions to the Flint water situation and ongoing public health concerns affecting residents". On January 13, Snyder activated the Michigan Army National Guard to assist the American Red Cross. On March 2, Snyder announced the state would partner with the employment agency Michigan Works! Association to hire 81 Flint residents to work at water distribution sites throughout the city. On March 21, Governor Snyder released a 75-point relief plan for addressing the crisis, which includes programs in the fields of health and human services, education, water supply and infrastructure replacements, and jobs and economic development. On April 6, the state began offering up to $100,000 in grant money from the Disaster and Emergency Contingency Fund to local governments affected by the water crisis. On March 16, 2017, Governor Snyder created the Child Lead Exposure Elimination Commission and appointed Mona Hanna-Attisha of Flint's Hurley Medical Center, Rebecca Meuninck of Ann Arbor, deputy director of the Ecology Center; Paul Haan of Grand Rapids, executive director of the Healthy Homes Coalition of West Michigan, Inc.; and Lyke Thompson of Ann Arbor, director of the Center for Urban Studies at Wayne State University as its members. "Eliminating the risk of child lead exposure will require the coordination and expertise of people across all sectors", Snyder said in the announcement. "Creating this permanent commission will help advance the strategies recommended to better protect Michigan children from lead exposure." On the same day, Governor Snyder said he will lower Michigan's "action level" from 15 ppb to 10 ppb. Snyder sent $28 million to Flint for supplies, medical care, and infrastructure upgrades Another $165 million for lead pipe replacements and water bill reimbursements was approved by Snyder on June 29, 2016. On January 6, 2017, Snyder signed a bill that accelerated the public notice requirement for lead in drinking water to three business days, from the previous time of 30 days. Federal On January 9, 2016, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sent two liaison officers to the Michigan Emergency Operations Center to work with the state to monitor the situation. On January 15, Snyder asked President Obama to grant a federal emergency/major disaster designation for Genesee County, seeking federal financial aid for emergency assistance and infrastructure repair in order to "protect the health, safety and welfare of Flint residents". The following day, Obama signed an emergency declaration giving Flint up to $5 million in federal aid to handle the crisis. FEMA released a statement that said: After Snyder's request for a "Major Disaster Declaration" status was turned down, FEMA Administrator W. Craig Fugate wrote a letter to Snyder saying that the water contamination "does not meet the legal definition of a 'major disaster under federal law because "[t]he incident was not the result of a natural catastrophe, nor was it created by a fire, flood or explosion." In response, Snyder asked Obama for emergency funding under FEMA's Individuals and Households Program, which provides housing assistance and replacement of personal property. He will also ask for money and emergency protective measures, according to the release. On March 3, 2016, Governor Snyder filed a second appeal for federal help to replace lead pipes and provide medical support and supplies for affected residents which said the estimated economic impact of the Flint water crisis is beginning to exceed $140 million. FEMA rejected his request again on March 16. The EPA issued a Safe Drinking Water Act Emergency Order and took over collecting and testing of water samples, while ordering state agencies to send them previously collected data, on January 21. A week later they advised residents to continue using water filters and drink only bottled water. On February 12, the USDA extended their nutrition programs for Flint children diagnosed with high blood lead levels. On the next day, Governor Snyder asked for additional help from Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program for affected Flint children. The Department of Health and Human Services granted his request on February 18, providing an additional $500,000 in Medicaid expansion for affected Flint children and pregnant women. On March 3, a waiver request to include pregnant women and people up to 21 years of age was approved. On March 1, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced plans to expand its Head Start Program to more Flint children affected by the crisis. On March 23, the U.S. Department of Labor announced up to $15 million in National Dislocated Worker Grants will help provide temporary jobs to assist with Flint's water crisis recovery. About 400 temporary jobs at water distribution centers throughout the city will be created through the grant. The workers will take the place of the Michigan National Guard soldiers who have been in place since January. On March 25, 2016, the EPA and FEMA extended the federal emergency until August 14, 2016. The state took over the emergency response after that date. A $170 million stopgap spending bill for repairing and upgrading the city of Flint's water system and helping with healthcare costs was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on December 8, 2016. The Senate approved it the next day. $100 million of the bill is for infrastructure repairs, $50 million for healthcare costs, and $20 million to pay back loans related to the crisis. ==Criminal prosecutions==

2016 On April 20, 2016, criminal charges were filed against three people in regards to the crisis by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette. Former MDEQ employees Michael Prysby and Stephen Busch are charged with misconduct in office, conspiracy to tamper with evidence, tampering with evidence, a treatment violation of the Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act, and a monitoring violation of the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act; former city water plant operator Michael Glasgow was charged with willful neglect of office, a misdemeanor, and felony tampering with evidence. On May 4, 2016, Glasgow accepted a plea deal with prosecutors, admitting to filing false information about lead in Flint water and agreeing to cooperate in other prosecutions. Exactly a year later, the case against Glasgow was dismissed, with prosecutors acknowledging his cooperation and the fact that he was the person who reported the crimes of his colleagues to the MDEQ. On July 29, 2016, Schuette charged six additional people with crimes in the crisis, three from MDEQ and three from the MDHHS. From MDEQ, Liane Shekter-Smith was charged with misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty; Adam Rosenthal was charged with misconduct in office, conspiracy to tamper with evidence, tampering with evidence, and neglect; Adam Cook was charged with misconduct in office, conspiracy to engage in misconduct in office, and neglect of duty. From the MDHHS, Nancy Peeler, Corinne Miller, and Robert Scott were charged with misconduct in office, conspiracy to commit misconduct in office, and willful neglect of duty. MDEQ and MDHHS released a joint statement later that day indicating Peeler, Scott, Cook, and Rosenthal had been suspended without pay. Miller retired in April and Shekter-Smith was fired in February. The cases were consolidated for preliminary hearing purposes on August 9, since the same witnesses were to testify against all defendants. On September 14, 2016, Miller pleaded no contest to the neglect of duty charge and agreed to testify against the other defendants. She was later sentenced to a year probation, 300 hours of community service, and fined $1,200. On November 28, 2017, Daugherty Johnson pleaded no contest to failing to furnish water documents to a Genesee County Health Department employee investigating a possible connection between Flint water and Legionnaires' disease outbreaks. Charges were dismissed in 2018 because of his cooperation with prosecutors. 2017 On June 14, 2017, Schuette announced new involuntary manslaughter charges—15-year felonies—against MDHHS Director Nick Lyon, former Flint emergency manager Darnell Earley, former Flint Department of Public Works director Howard Croft, former Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Office of Drinking Water chief Liane Shekter-Smith and MDEQ District Supervisor Stephen Busch. Also charged was Eden Wells, chief medical executive of MDHHS, who faces allegations of obstruction of justice and lying to a police officer. Lyon was also charged with a single count of misconduct in office after being accused of having received notice of the Legionnaires' outbreak at least a year before informing the public and the governor, while Wells is also accused of threatening to withhold funding to the Flint Area Community Health and Environment Partnership unless the partnership ceased its investigation into the source of the Legionnaires' outbreak. On October 9, 2017, Wells was charged with involuntary manslaughter and misconduct in office. On December 20, 2017, Adam Rosenthal pleaded no contest to a public records charge, a one-year misdemeanor, which was officially dismissed on September 27, 2018, following his cooperation in other prosecutions. 2018 On August 20, 2018, District Court Judge David Goggins found probable cause for a trial for two cases of involuntary manslaughter that were linked to Legionnaires Disease against Michigan's Health Director, Nick Lyon. On December 26, MDEQ employees Michael Prysby and Stephen Busch pleaded guilty to misdemeanors in exchange for their testimony against other defendants. 2019 On December 18, 2019, the cases against former MDEQ employees Steven Busch and Michael Prysby were dismissed by a Genesee County judge. Nine years after Flint's disastrous water switch, prosecutors say no one will stand trial for their role in the city's government-caused water crisis. State prosecutors conceded that they had no viable path forward, effectively dismissing the investigations. Legal experts pointed to a series of missteps by Attorney General Dana Nessel's team, complicating an already challenging prosecution. The conclusion of the investigation left many in Flint disheartened yet unsurprised. Kevin Croom, the executive director of the Asbury Community Development Corporation in Flint, expressed the sentiment shared by many: "It's a slow-walk slap in the face. Lives were lost, and it's just like, 'Deal with it, it happened, go on with your life. 2020 On January 8, 2020, a Genesee County judge dismissed a misdemeanor charge of disturbance of a lawful meeting against Liane Shekter-Smith. On April 16, 2020, an article was published giving details of evidence of corruption and a coverup by Governor Snyder and Rich Baird, and stating that the statute of limitations on some of the most serious felony misconduct-in-office charges would expire on April 25, 2020. The officials that were involved were charged with forty-two charges, both felonies and misdemeanors. Charges included; perjury, misconduct, obstruction of justice, extortion, neglect, involuntary manslaughter. The Flint water crisis led to the death of twelve individuals, and left more than 90 people sick by various diseases, including legionnaires' disease. This was due to the water going untreated from the river. Bacteria was able to make its way from the water into the homes of many surrounding families through the service lines. ==Civil lawsuits==

As of February 21, 2019, a total of 79 civil lawsuits have been filed in regards to the crisis. 2015 On November 13, 2015, four families filed a federal class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit against Governor Snyder and thirteen other city and state officials, including Mayor Walling and Darnell Earley, who was in charge of the city when the switch to the Flint River was made. The complaint alleges that the officials acted recklessly and negligently, leading to serious injuries from lead poisoning, including autoimmune disorders, skin lesions, and "brain fog". The complaint alleges that the officials' conduct was "reckless and outrageous" and "shocks the conscience and was deliberately indifferent to ... constitutional rights." The legal doctrines of sovereign immunity (which protects the state from suit) and official immunity (which in Michigan shields top government officials from personal liability, even in cases of gross negligence) resulted in comparatively few lawsuits being filed in the Flint case, and caused large national plaintiffs' law firms to be reluctant to become involved with the case. 2016 On January 14, 2016, a separate class-action lawsuit against Snyder, the state of Michigan, the city of Flint, Earley, Walling, and Croft was filed by three Flint residents in Michigan Circuit Court in Genesee County. This suit targets lower-level officials who (under Michigan law) do not have immunity from claims arising from gross negligence. A federal lawsuit filed on January 27, 2016, seeks the replacement of all lead service lines in Flint at no cost to residents following claims city and state leaders violated federal laws designed to protect drinking water. It is also asking the court to force city and state officials to provide safe drinking water to Flint residents and require them to follow federal regulations for testing and treating water to control for lead. On February 2, 2016, a class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court was filed on behalf of Beatrice Boler, a Flint mother of two, Flint pastor Edwin Anderson with his wife, Alline Anderson, and a company, Epco Sales LLC. against Snyder, the MDEQ, two former state appointed emergency managers and Mayor Walling that seeks more than $150 million in refunds and compensation for damages for "water that was extraordinarily dangerous, undrinkable and unusable". It was dismissed on April 19, 2016, after the judge ruled the allegations fall under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, which prevents challenges to the law being ruled on in U.S. District Court and states they must be addressed by the EPA, and the case should be re-filed in the Michigan Court of Claims. Also on February 2, a lawsuit was filed in Michigan Circuit Court on behalf of four Genesee County residents who contracted Legionnaires' disease during the Flint water crisis, including one woman who died seven days after entering the emergency room with a headache. The suit names McLaren Regional Medical Center and several MDEQ officials as defendants. Lawyer Geoffrey Fieger represents the plaintiffs. On February 8, 2016, the parents of a two-year-old girl diagnosed with high blood lead levels filed a lawsuit in federal court, naming as defendants the city of Flint, the state of Michigan, Snyder, Earley, and Walling. The case was dismissed on February 7, 2017, with the judge citing his court has a lack of subject matter jurisdiction. On March 7, 2016, another class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of seven residents alleging that tens of thousands of residents have suffered physical and economic injuries and damages. It argues officials failed to take action over "dangerous levels of lead" in drinking water and "downplayed the severity of the contamination". On March 8, 2016, a federal class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of over 500 county inmates against the Genesee County Sheriff's Department in regards to the water quality at the Genesee County Jail. The suit seeks only an injunction that will order the sheriff's department to continue to serve inmates only bottled water and dry food that does not require water to prepare. On March 24, the City of Flint filed a notice of intent sue in the Court of Claims against the State of Michigan, the MDEQ and four MDEQ employees for their mishandling of the crisis. A week later, Mayor Weaver said she has no intentions to proceed with a lawsuit, and the move is to "protect the future interest of the city". On March 25, a federal lawsuit filed by the ACLU asked for an order requiring water to be delivered to homes of people without access to transportation or who are physically disabled. The case was settled a year later for $87 million (with an additional $10 million in reserve), which will be used to replaced 18,000 lead pipes by 2020. On April 6, 2016, a class action lawsuit brought by 15 Flint residents accused Governor Snyder and several state agencies and government officials of being in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in regards to the crisis. On May 18, 2016, the NAACP sued the state of Michigan and Governor Snyder, seeking compensation for property damages, pain and suffering damages, emotional distress damages and medical monitoring for Flint residents and businesses. On June 22, 2016, the Michigan Attorney General's Office filed a civil suit against engineering firms Veolia North America and Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam (LAN) who were hired to consult Flint water plant officials after the switch to the Flint River in April 2015. The lawsuit accuses Veolia and LAN of professional negligence and public nuisance. Veolia is also accused of fraud. Veolia called the accusations "baseless, entirely unfounded and [appearing] to be intended to distract from the troubling and disturbing realities that have emerged as a result of this tragedy", and then added, "In fact, when Veolia raised potential lead and copper issues, city officials and representatives told us to exclude it from our scope of work because the city and the EPA were just beginning to conduct lead and copper testing." Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel amended the complaint on April 12, 2019, stating the companies "made multiple missteps by designing water treatment measures that made the water corrosive. Those failures ultimately resulted in bacterial problems in Flint's water, potentially dangerous disinfectant byproducts, the corrosion of the city's water distribution system, and high lead levels." On May 28, 2019, Veolia denied responsibility for the crisis, instead blaming state and location officials for the crisis, and filed a motion for summary disposition on that date. In November 2019, a Genesee County judge dismissed four of the plaintiff's five charges against Veolia and LAN. On June 27, 2016, Flint residents Shari Guertin, on behalf of her minor child, and Diogenes Muse-Cleveland, filed a lawsuit accusing several officials of violating their "bodily integrity" by exposing them to lead-contaminated water and hiding it. The defendants are city and state officials including former Flint Department of Public Works Director Howard Croft, former emergency managers Darnell Earley and Gerald Ambrose and former DEQ officials Liane Shekter-Smith, Stephen Busch, Michael Prysby and Bradley Wurfel. Several charges in the case were dismissed by the original trial court on June 5, 2017. The charges were re-instated by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals on January 4, 2019. On November 15, 2016, Chief Judge Richard B. Yuille, Circuit Court of Genesee County, entered a case management Order, wherein he appointed attorney Corey Stern, of Levy Konigsberg, L.L.P., lead counsel for all plaintiffs maintaining claims in the Circuit Court of Genesee County for personal injuries and property damage sustained as a result of the Flint water crisis. Attorney Wayne B. Mason, of Drinker, Biddle & Reath, L.L.P., was appointed lead counsel for the defendants. Judge Yuille called for a small number of lawsuits related to the Flint water crisis to serve as bellwethers, cases that will be fully developed and tried to verdict with the idea that they will help attorneys in other cases evaluate whether to settle or take their cases to trial. 2017 On January 30, 2017, a class action lawsuit with over 1,700 plaintiffs against the EPA seeking $722.4 million was filed, charging them with a violation of section 1431 of the Safe Drinking Water Act, which states, "upon receipt of information that a contaminant that is present in or likely to enter a public water system or an underground source of drinking water, or there is a threatened or potential terrorist attack or other intentional act, that may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to the health of persons, the EPA Administrator may take any action she deems necessary to protect human health". 2020 Two of the lawsuits had reached the Sixth Circuit Appeals Court; in both cases, the Court rejected the city officials' claims of immunity to allow the cases to continue. The Sixth Circuit asserted the citizens had a right to remedy since the officials' decision to switch water sources in 2014 harmed the citizens' Constitutional right to "bodily integrity". The officials had petitioned to the Supreme Court of the United States on the question of immunity, but in January 2020, the Supreme Court declined to hear either case, allowing both cases to proceed at the lower court. 2021 In November 2021, federal District Court Judge Judith E. Levy approved a $626 million settlement in the case against the state of Michigan and other defendants. ==Infrastructure repairs and medical treatment==

2016 On January 7, 2016, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said that estimates of the cost of fixing water infrastructure in Flint, such as aging pipes, range from millions up to $1.5 billion. These figures encompass infrastructure alone, excluding any public health costs of the disaster. DEQ interim director Keith Creagh said that estimation of total costs would be premature. However, in a September 2015 email released by Snyder in January 2016, the state estimated the replacement cost to be $60 million, and said it could take up to 15 years to do. On January 18, 2016, the United Way of Genesee County estimated 6,000–12,000 children have been exposed to lead poisoning and kicked off a fundraising campaign to raise $100 million over a 10–15 year span for their medical treatment. At his annual State of the State address on January 19, Snyder apologized again, and asked the Michigan Legislature to give Flint an additional $28 million in funding for filters, replacement cartridges, bottled water, more school nurses and additional intervention specialists. It also will fund lab testing, corrosion control procedures, a study of water-system infrastructure, potentially help Flint deal with unpaid water bills, case management of people with elevated lead-blood levels, assessment of potential linkages to other diseases, crisis counseling and mental health services, and the replacement of plumbing fixtures in schools, child care centers, nursing homes and medical facilities. The Michigan House Appropriations Committee passed the bill the next day, while the Senate approved it on January 28. Snyder signed it the next day. On January 21, 2016, President Obama gave an $80 million loan to Michigan for infrastructure repairs, but the amount going to Flint is uncertain. On January 28, 2016, Democratic U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters and Representative Dan Kildee proposed an amendment to pending federal energy legislation to add the special appropriation of up to $400 million to replace and repair the lead service lines in Flint and $200 million more to create a center for lead research in Flint. They also said the state could choose to match up to $400 million for its share of infrastructure repairs in Flint. The newly amended bill was rejected by the Senate on February 4. A new $220 million bill to address the crisis was proposed in the U.S. Senate on February 24. At a news conference on February 9, 2016, Flint mayor Karen Weaver said that the city would remove and replace all of the city's 15,000 water service lines containing lead piping. Work was expected to begin in March 2016. The project will receive technical advice from the Lansing Board of Water and Light, which removed over 13,000 lead pipes in Lansing, Michigan. Lansing mayor Virg Bernero volunteered to provide the assistance. Weaver appointed Michael C. H. McDaniel, a retired National Guard brigadier general, to oversee the group leading the project, the Flint Action and Sustainability Team (FAST). The city government hopes to complete the project within a year, using 32 work crews, with priority given to the most at-risk households. The project is expected to cost $55 million, and the funding sources are not yet secured, but the city plans to seek it from local, state, and federal sources. The crews began working on March 4. On February 16, 2016, the state hired Flint-based engineering firm Rowe Professional Services to begin the process of locating, removing, and eventually replacing lead pipes in the highest risk areas of Flint. On February 18, 2016, the state gave Flint a $2 million grant that will go towards replacing lead service lines. On March 6, 2016, Union Labor Life Insurance Company donated $25 million for lead pipe replacements in the city. On July 18, 2016, city council approved a $500,000 contract with three companies for the second phase of lead pipe replacements: WT Stevens and Johnson & Wood were awarded $320,000 contracts to do no more than 50 homes each. Goyette was awarded $619,500 to tackle replacing lead lines at 150 Flint homes. The city is using $25 million in funding approved by the Michigan legislature in June that was allocated for replacing Flint lead tainted pipes for Fast Start's third phase which will replace infrastructure at an estimated 5,000 homes in Flint. On October 10, 2016, city council approved contracts to replace pipes at 788 more homes before winter. The third phase will be funded using a portion of $25 million approved by the Michigan Legislature in June that was allocated for replacing Flint lead tainted pipes for Fast Start's third phase, which will replace infrastructure at an estimated 5,000 homes in Flint. Goyette will be paid $1,663,300.60 for replacements at 260 addresses in city wards two, six and eight. WT Stevens will be paid $2,306,384 for replacements at 488 addresses in city wards three, four, eight and nine. On October 17, 2016, the second phase of the program was completed on 218 homes. Flint's water service line records were largely unreliable, meaning the city could not say how many lead pipes existed, nor where they were. The City therefore started using a machine learning model to prioritize excavations starting in September 2016. This was based on a representative sample taken of the city's water service lines (approximately 200 homes) using Hydrovac method, which revealed the problem was more extensive than the city anticipated. After the report, the city's estimates of lead/galvanized jumped from 10 to 20% to about 50%. 2017 On January 19, 2017, an engineer at the Flint Water Plant said the facility is in need of $60 million worth of upgrades, which would not be finished until well into 2019. On February 7, 2017, another report said the cost would be $108 million. On February 6, 2017, the Genesee Intermediate School District received $6.5 million for the Early On Genesee program to provide free evaluations to as many as 5,000 children up to 5 years old facing possible lead-related developmental delays from the state of Michigan. On March 17, 2017, Flint received a $100 million grant from the EPA for water infrastructure repairs. On June 30, 2017, the Genesee County Health Department's Healthy Start Program received $15 million to provide health and social services for people who have had or are at risk for lead exposure stemming from Flint water crisis. 2018 In January 2018, the city contracted a private consulting firm, AECOM, to take over water service line excavations and consequently stopped using the machine learning model. During 2018, 10,531 excavations were performed, yielding a hit rate of only 15%. As a result, the hit rate steadily increased and was close to 70% as of 2019. ==Long-term effects of lead poisoning==

Childhood lead exposure causes a reduction in intellectual functioning and IQ, academic performance, and problem-solving skills, and an increased risk of attention deficit disorder, aggression, and hyperactivity. According to studies, children with elevated levels of lead in the blood are more likely as adults to commit crimes, be imprisoned, be unemployed or underemployed, or be dependent on government services. While changes in IQ may appear small from the elevated blood levels, it has been estimated that each increase in an IQ point raises worker's productivity by 1.76–2.38%, and that the economic benefit for each year of 3.8 million 2-year-old children could be from $110 to $319 billion. In addition, early-life exposure to lead may increase risk of later-life neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, and this risk is likely to persist into late life long after lead has been removed from the body. A 2014 study by researchers at Risk Science Center at the University of Michigan, completed before the Flint water crisis came to light, estimated the annual cost of childhood lead exposure in Michigan at $330 million ($205 million in decreases in lifetime earnings, $105 million in additional criminal justice system expenditures, $18 million in health expenditures to diagnose lead positioning and lead-linked attention deficit disorder), and $2.5 million in additional special education expenditures. the total long-term cost of the Flint water crisis "will not be apparent in the short term." However, the cost is expected to be high. Philippe Grandjean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, an expert in the effects of environmental pollution on brain development, said that "when calculated from the loss of lifetime income, the societal costs from lead exposure (across the United States) reach billion-dollar amounts." ==Political responses==

Federal government sips filtered Flint water following a roundtable on the crisis at Northwestern High School on May 4, 2016. Dan Kildee, the Democratic party congressman in the House of Representatives representing the Michigan 5th district which includes Flint, along with Republican Michigan Representative Fred Upton, sponsored H.R. 4470, the Safe Drinking Water Act Improved Compliance Awareness Act, which would ensure that the public promptly learns of excessive lead levels in their drinking water by setting forth how and when states, EPA, and public utilities communicate their findings. It has passed the House, but has yet to be passed by the Senate, where it has been read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. Among the Michigan congressional delegation, only Representative Justin Amash, Republican of Cascade Township, opposed federal aid for Flint. Amash opined that "the U.S. Constitution does not authorize the federal government to intervene in an intrastate matter like this one." In December 2016, President Barack Obama signed the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act of 2016 which earmarked $170 million to address the Flint water crisis. The first $100 million was released in March 2017, by the US Environmental Protection Agency after President Trump had taken office. President Donald Trump's plan to fix the crisis in Michigan was folded into a federal infrastructure plan that had no direct reference to or specific proposal for the crisis in Flint. Dan Kildee, the Democratic party congressman in the House of Representatives representing the Michigan 5th district which includes Flint, reintroduced on July 10, 2019, a bill in the House, originally introduced in 2017, as HR 3677, the National Opportunity for Lead Exposure Accountability and Deterrence Act (NO LEAD) of 2017. Tammy Duckworth, Democratic Senator for Illinois, announced on the same day, July 10, 2019, the introduction of a bill in the Senate as S. 2086, the National Opportunity for Lead Exposure Accountability and Deterrence (NO LEAD) of 2019. The nearly-identical bills aim to help ensure drinking water across the USA is safe from lead and copper contamination, and would update the Lead and Copper Rule, lowering the lead action level from 15 parts per billion (ppb) currently, to 10 ppb by 2020 and 5 ppb by 2026. The bill would also create a lead-service-line inventory to help monitor contaminated service lines and ensure the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) develops a universal testing protocol to make sure the entire lead service line is replaced if water contamination is detected, as partial replacement does not eliminate the risk of contamination. State legislature On January 4, 2016, citing the Flint water crisis, Michigan Representative Phil Phelps, Democrat of Flushing, announced plans to introduce a bill to the Michigan House of Representatives that would make it a felony for state officials to intentionally manipulate or falsify information in official reports, punishable by up to five years' imprisonment and a $5,000 fine. On March 2, House Democratic leader Tim Greimel called on Governor Snyder to resign, due to his "negligence and indifference" in his handling of the Flint water crisis. Also on that date, State Democratic Party Chairman Brandon Dillon called for Michigan Treasurer Nick Khouri to resign due to his role in a loan agreement from April 2015 that blocked Flint from switching back to the Detroit system. 2016 presidential election Donald Trump On January 19, 2016, then-Republican-candidate Donald Trump said, "It's a shame what's happening in Flint, Michigan. A thing like that shouldn't happen." After clinching the Republican nomination, Trump visited Flint on September 14, 2016, and toured the water plant and a Flint church, where he promised to fix the water crisis, and in a speech there, he outlined larger issues, claiming NAFTA caused General Motors' abandonment of Flint and the area's subsequent ongoing recession, saying, "It used to be that cars were made in Flint and you couldn't drink the water in Mexico. Now cars are made in Mexico, and you can't drink the water in Flint. That's terrible." Hillary Clinton Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton repeatedly mentioned the crisis during her campaign, saying: "The people of Flint deserve to know the truth about how this happened and what Governor Snyder and other leaders knew about it. And they deserve a solution, fast. Thousands of children may have been exposed to lead, which could irreversibly harm their health and brain functioning. Plus, this catastrophe—which was caused by a zeal to save money at all costs—could actually cost $1.5 billion in infrastructure repairs." In a subsequent interview, Clinton referred to her work on lead abatement in housing in upstate New York while a U.S. Senator and called for further funding for healthcare and education for children who will experience the negative effects of lead exposure on behavior and educational attainment. The crisis was also the catalyst for a town hall style debate in Flint between Clinton and Democratic rival Bernie Sanders on March 6, 2016, two days before the Michigan Presidential primary election. It was hosted by CNN anchors Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon. Both candidates called for Governor Snyder to resign during the event. ==Other responses==

Lead poisoning and aging infrastructure problems in other cities An investigative report by Reuters released December 19, 2016, found nearly 3,000 areas in the United States with lead contamination rates at least double those in Flint. The Trump administration blocked publishing a federal health study on the nationwide water-contamination crisis. The water disaster called attention to the problem of aging and seriously neglected water infrastructure nationwide. The Flint crisis recalled recent lead contamination crises in the tap water in various cities, such as the lead contamination in Washington, D.C. drinking water (2001), Columbia, South Carolina (2005); Durham and Greenville, North Carolina (2006); Jackson, Mississippi (2015); and Sebring, Ohio (2015). The New York Times notes, "Although Congress banned lead water pipes 30 years ago, between 3.3 million and 10 million older ones remain, primed to leach lead into tap water by forces as simple as jostling during repairs or a change in water chemistry." Inadequate regulation was cited as one reason for unsafe lead levels in tap water and "efforts to address shortcomings often encounter push-back from industries like agriculture and mining that fear cost increases, and from politicians ideologically opposed to regulation". The crisis called attention to a "resource gap" for water regulators. The annual budget of the EPA's drinking water office declined 15% from 2006 to 2015, with the office losing over 10% of employees, and the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators reported in 2013 that "federal officials had slashed drinking-water grants, 17 states had cut drinking-water budgets by more than a fifth, and 27 had cut spending on full-time employees", with "serious implications for states' ability to protect public health". Reforming the Lead and Copper Rule The water crisis in Flint, Michigan has made it apparent that reform needs to be made nationwide to improve water infrastructure. Michigan, as the center of the water crisis, has since strengthened its Lead and Copper Rule, making it the strongest advocate against lead contaminated water in the country. The new Lead and Copper Rule in Michigan requires that all lead contaminated pipes be replaced within the next twenty years. In 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency suggested the first change to the Lead and Copper Rule in almost three decades to set more strict protocols for when lead is identified in water. After the crisis in Flint, Michigan, Trump's administration created a new set of regulations that would allow states to react more effectively and in a faster manner in the event of a public health crisis. These changes, proposed in amendments to the Lead and Copper Rule, still allow lead water lines to service communities, which has drawn a lot of criticisms from the public. This new proposal highlighted four changes in the Lead and Copper Rule, a rule that previously has not been revised in years. The proposed revisions consist of: • Requiring water systems to create a database of where the lead pipes are located, and when the water running through the pipes reaches lead levels greater than 15 parts per billion, the problem must be investigated and fixed. • Creating an alert when water samples reach 10 parts per billion so that communities can determine how to lower the lead levels in the water before it reaches 15 parts per billion. • Requiring water systems to alert customers within a one-day period if their water sample tests higher than 15 parts per million. • Requiring water systems to replace water service lines to a home if they are contaminated with lead, and if the homeowner chooses to replace the piping. Every year thereafter, the water system must replace three percent of the lead contaminated water system. However, critics are calling for the replacement of all lead service lines in communities; a project that would cost billions of dollars, which was not a part of the proposed amendments to the Lead and Copper Rule. The problem with the current Lead and Copper Rule is that it allows states to test their own water systems. This can cause problems because the water systems in individual homes affect the quality of the water there. Therefore, water pipes could be contaminated and never get tested, or the test results are never reported. Since the crisis in Flint, the Environmental Protection Agency has called for more aggressive replacement of contaminated pipes, as well as improved education so people know to test their water. The crisis in Flint spurred the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to test water systems across the nation for possible contaminants. The study showed that every state in the country had areas which tested positive for matter that could be harmful to human health. This highlights the sheer number of violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act, of which the Lead and Copper Rule is a part. These violations could be positive results of contaminated water, failing to test water and water systems, and the failure to report contaminated water systems to the proper authorities. Accusations of environmental racism Civil rights advocates characterized the crisis as a result of environmental racism (Flint's population is 56.6% African American per the 2010 census), a term primarily referring to the disproportionate exposure of ethnic minorities to pollution as a result of "poverty and segregation that has relegated many blacks and other racial minorities to some of the most industrialized or dilapidated environments". Columnist Shaun King, for example, wrote that the crisis was "a horrific clash of race, class, politics and public health". Flint residents themselves have identified racism as a contributing factor to the crisis. In a qualitative study done by The Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture and Health (CRECH) at the University of Michigan, researchers investigated Flint youth's perceptions of the Flint water crisis. The young Flint residents, with 93% identifying as black, were asked questions regarding the socioeconomic factors that attributed to the crisis. In these interviews, themes of race, genocide, and oppression became apparent as youth expressed opinions on how their "poor Black city" was stigmatized and deprioritized by those in power. While some participants attributed the crisis to intentional ignorance in the face of a stereotype of cities with high crime rates such as Flint, others connected the crisis to an "intentional program of genocide". Regardless of varying dissent, the interviews were notably "emotionally charged", and much of the interviewees posed an idea of internalized oppression. Media responses On October 8, 2015, the editorial board of the Detroit Free Press wrote that the crisis was "an obscene failure of government" and criticized Snyder. From December 2015 and for the next two years, reporter Jiquanda Johnson reported on the ins and outs of the water crisis for The Flint Journal, beginning with a report on the preliminary findings of the Flint Water Advisory Task Force on December 30. On December 31, 2015, the editorial board of the MLive group of Michigan newspapers called upon Snyder to "drop executive privilege and release all of his communications on Flint water", establish a procedure for compensating families of children with elevated lead blood levels, and return Flint to local control. MSNBC host Rachel Maddow has extensively reported on the water crisis on her show since December 2015, keeping it in the national spotlight. She has condemned Snyder's use of emergency managers (which she termed a "very, very radical" change "to the way we govern ourselves as Americans, something that nobody else has done") and said, "The kids of Flint, Michigan have been poisoned by a policy decision." On October 5, 2017, Maddow won an Emmy Award for the special. In February 2018, Jordan Chariton Reports, the YouTube channel and reporting website, released an investigative piece on Truthdig showing that the science and data used to declare the water safe in Flint, Michigan was suspect. This report was later featured on the Thom Hartmann Program. On April 23, 2019, Status Coup, an independent investigative reporting network co-founded by Jordan Chariton and Jenn Dize, released the documentary Flushing Flint which claimed that the water testing by Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) was falsified by MDEQ staff taking water samples after flushing running water from taps for several minutes before taking the samples, contrary to normal procedures for water testing, and by MDEQ staff telling residents that they should take water samples after flushing running water from their taps for several minutes. In November 2016, a federal judge ordered the implementation of door-to-door delivery of bottled water to every home without a properly installed and maintained faucet filter. In June 2019, the University of Michigan researchers responsible for developing the model, Jake Abernethy and Eric Schwartz, founded BlueConduit, a company aimed at leveraging data science and machine learning to find and remove lead pipes in other municipalities. The hacktivist group Anonymous released a YouTube video calling for the arrest of Snyder. Prominent figures Michael Moore, a Genesee County native and director-producer of several movies related to Flint, called for Snyder's arrest for mishandling the water crisis in an open letter to the governor, writing, "The facts are all there, Mr. Snyder. Every agency involved in this scheme reported directly to you. The children of Flint didn't have a choice as to whether or not they were going to get to drink clean water." A spokesman for the governor called Moore's call "inflammatory". Later, after hearing of the Legionnaires' outbreak, Moore termed the state's actions "murder". Moore also criticized Barack Obama's trip to Flint, where he drank water, "disappointing". In a post on her Facebook page, environmental activist Erin Brockovich called the water crisis a "growing national concern" and said that the crisis was "likely" connected to the Legionnaires' disease outbreak. Brockovich called for the U.S. Environment Protection Agency to become involved in the investigation, saying that the EPA's "continued silence has proven deadly". On January 16, 2016, the Reverend Jesse Jackson met with Mayor Weaver in Flint and said of the crisis, "The issue of water and air and housing and education and violence are all combined. The problem here obviously is more than just lack of drinkable water. We know the problems here and they will be addressed." Jackson called Flint "a disaster zone" and a "crime scene" during a rally at a Flint church the next day. Jackson, in conjunction with the group Concerned Pastors for Social Action, held a major national march in Flint on February 19 to address the water issue, as well as inner city violence and urban reconstruction. On January 18, Nontombi Naomi Tutu, daughter of Desmond Tutu, said in a speech at the University of Michigan–Flint, "We actually needed the people of Flint to remind the people of this country what happens when political expediency, when financial concerns, overshadow justice and humanity." On January 24, actor and clean drinking water advocate Matt Damon called for Snyder's resignation. On March 7, actor Mark Ruffalo, head of the group Water Defense, visited Flint and called for more federal aid in the emergency and Snyder's resignation while saying, "It's an absolute outrage, it's a moral indecency." Water Defense conducted studies on Flint water in the spring of 2016, claiming it is still unsafe for bathing or showering. Their findings were disputed by Virginia Tech water expert Marc Edwards on May 31, 2016. In the third episode of the Adult Swim comedy series Million Dollar Extreme Presents: World Peace, Charles Carroll (member of the group of YouTube comedians Million Dollar Extreme) delivered a monologue where he described how viewers can recreate the contaminated water in Flint. In his monologue, the right wing-leaning Carroll discussed the concept of tyrannicide with costars Sam Hyde and Andrew Ruse and claims that the situation in Flint is a situation where the violent murder of Republican leadership in the state of Michigan would be justified. Comedian Steve Harvey made a joke which caused controversy after he got in an argument on The Steve Harvey Morning Show. On it a viewer called in to say that "Cleveland don't deserve jack, and he over there bathing in all that silver water" after the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA team lost in the finals to the Golden State Warriors. Steve Harvey retorted "one more thing. ... Enjoy your nice brown glass of water". The network immediately apologized on air for Harvey's behavior. Following this there was considerable outrage with both Flint mayor Karen Weaver and Little Miss Flint demanding an apology from Steve Harvey. Harvey doubled down on his statement saying it was all in good fun. On April 28, 2018, Michelle Wolf was the featured entertainer at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Wolf's last line in her speech was "Flint still doesn't have clean water". Education and research During its winter 2016 semester, the University of Michigan–Flint offered a one-credit, eight-session series of public forums dedicated to educating Flint residents and students on the crisis. The University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) committed to spending $100,000 to research the crisis and possible ways to address it. Wayne State University in Detroit is leading a separate study with five other schools focusing on the Legionnaires' outbreak called the Flint Area Community Health and Environment Partnership. On October 9, 2017, they released their preliminary analysis, which showed approximately 10 percent of all homes on the Flint municipal water system had chlorine levels less than 0.2 mg/L when measured at the kitchen faucet (bypassing filters when present) after five minutes of flushing. On August 7, 2017, West Virginia University published a study validating the correlation between the intake of lead contaminated water and the increase of fetal deaths along with miscarriages during November 2013 to March 2015. The study was led jointly by Daniel Grossman of West Virginia University and David Slusky of the University of Kansas. The data was constructed over the course of two years focusing on the city of Flint and how the data differs among neighboring cites in Michigan. Data shows that after the city switched the water source to the Flint River, fetal deaths rose 58% among women aged 15–49 compared to control areas. William Paterson University/University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Study On November 6, 2017, a retrospective cohort study was published in the Journal of Public Health Policy regarding birth weight outcomes in Flint in the early stages of the water crisis. The study was completed using birth data from 2005 to 2015 to assess the birth weights of infants born before and after the Flint, Michigan, water supply was changed. Low birth weight was defined as a birth weight less than 2,500 grams. Beginning with January 2014 conception dates, the Flint, Michigan, population saw the incidence of low birth weight infants increase from 13.3% to 15.7%. Additionally, the study found that "In almost every category pertaining to health effects and other topics related to the Flint water crisis, African American respondents wanted additional information at higher levels than White respondents." A number of commentators framed the crisis in terms of human rights, writing that authorities' handling of the issue denied residents their right to clean water. Some have framed it as the result of austerity measures and given priority over human life. Jacob Lederman, for example, contends that Flint's poisoned water supply, in addition to high crime rates, devastated schools and crumbling infrastructure, can be attributed to neoliberal economic reforms. Robby Soave, writing in Reason magazine, said that administrative bloat in public-sector trade unions was to blame for the crisis: "Let's not forget the reason why local authorities felt the need to find a cheaper water source: Flint is broke and its desperately poor citizens can't afford higher taxes to pay the pensions of city government retirees. As recently as 2011, it would have cost every person in Flint $10,000 each to cover the unfunded legacy costs of the city's public employees." Shikha Dalmia wrote in Reason magazine that "Flint was a government-made disaster from top to bottom. Private companies didn't run the system or profit from it". The crisis brought the National Water Infrastructure Conference to Flint in early March 2017. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and Flint Mayor Karen Weaver spoke on the first day. Marc Edwards spoke there two days later. On April 20, 2017, Stephen Estes-Smargiassi, director of planning and sustainability at the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, told a forum on lead water contamination at the Harvard School of Public Health that a chain-reaction of failures, including those by the financial managers, allowed the water crisis to develop as long as it did. He stated: ==Prevention==

According to The Arkansas Journal of Social Change and Public Service, the failure of preventing the crisis in Flint was that of the Michigan officials, however the failure of the situation not being deescalated is due to the Obama presidency. The president failed to declare a state of emergency quick enough, and that was very alarming to many people due to his campaign pushing for bettering the African-American community. Flint city has a huge number of African-American people within its population, thus making the city a minority. So even though the Obama administration encouraged progress in minority communities, Flint's growth was really delayed considerably by his silence. In the end, because the Obama presidency failed to adequately deal with the crisis, many people's lives were ruined. In those two years, the city of Flint really struggled due to their poor economy. Residents of Flint would have significantly benefited from the aid that the federal government could have provided sooner. Flint, a low-income community, lacked the resources needed for dealing with such a problem. Assistance from the federal government was needed, but it came too late. The community had begun to feel the effects of lead poisoning by the time the federal government sent assistance to Flint. Because of these acts, a technical strategy was adopted, ignoring the core political and social issues in favor of technical solutions. The primary causes of Flint's water issue, such as poor infrastructure investment and the exclusion effects of budget cuts forced on struggling cities, were ignored by these initiatives. According to Larry Clark of Sustainable Performance Solutions, consulting professionals such as "professional engineers, licensed plumbers, or water-treatment specialists" could have had a positive impact on the outcome. In addition to professional consultation, EPA reform would help prevent another Flint water crisis. Current water-testing techniques can underestimate water lead levels because sampling is sometimes concentrated on neighborhoods with known low lead levels or lead-free pipes. The EPA has also updated its standards and created six goals for improving the drinking water of the nation. This plan was created in November 2016 to decrease the amount of pollution in water. In the situation of Flint, MI, a corrosive water source was introduced "into an aging water system without adequate corrosion control". Many factors such as "POU device costs, lead absorption from water, and economic losses associated with reduced IQ" were taken into account to determine the cost-benefit of each device. The study found that the water lead level breakeven points for reverse osmosis, activated carbon, and distillation were 7.31 μg/L, 3.73 μg/L, and 12.0 μg/L, respectively. Predictive models using historical city data have been utilized to estimate the probability of homes in the city containing lead pipes. This could have been largely avoided with the continued use of the machine learning model developed in 2016. ==Indirect mental health impact==

As the water crisis unfolded, residents experienced considerable anxiety over the physical and mental health impacts of lead poisoning on both adults and children, stress, and anger at political leaders. Some adults felt guilty about giving children contaminated water, some even felt scared to let their children in the bath, or come into contact with the water. Adults struggled with depression and showed signs of suicidal ideation because of what was occurring with their children. A study from the University of Michigan provided evidence that demonstrated an association between the Flint water crisis and sleep conditions. Surveys were offered at every opportunity, including by mail, email, social media, and in-person events to as many Flint, Michigan residents as possible. 834 respondents from September 30, 2015, to September 28, 2016, were included in the analysis. In the survey, respondents had to rate the quality of their tap water (taste, smell, appearance), rate the quality of their sleep, list the duration of sleep in a typical night, and fill out basic demographics. The study found that a lower perceived quality of tap water was associated with lower sleep quality and a shorter duration of sleep. Another study was conducted on Flint residents to gauge the mental health impact of the crisis on the residents. In May 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with the help of the city, conducted a Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER). The study was to get data on the individual and household level data on the physical and mental health outcomes in the communities where there was a public health disaster. CASPER results found that the residents in Flint had lower levels of mental health than previously reported in 2012 and 2014 by the Michigan Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. == Economic impact ==

The water crisis caused the value of Flint housing to fall between $520 million to $559 million. Home prices remained depressed even after $400 million in remediation spending and after the water was declared safe for consumption. == Environmental impact ==