Flint has replaced most of its lead water pipes, more than ten years after contaminated water was found in the Michigan city’s water system, prompting national outrage.
State officials submitted a progress report in court on Tuesday showing that they replaced 11,000 lead pipes in the city and restored more than 28,000 affected properties.
“Thanks to the persistence of the people of Flint and our partners, we are finally at the end of the lead pipe replacement project,” said Pastor Allen C. Overton of the Concerned Pastors for Social Action, one of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs in a 2017 lawsuit against officials over the scandal. “While this milestone is not all the justice our community deserves, it is a huge achievement.”
The Michigan Attorney General’s Office did not immediately return a request for comment.
In 2013, officials stopped buying water from Detroit and created a pipeline to Lake Huron as a cost-cutting measure. Until the pipeline’s completion, the city’s primary water source came from the Flint River in 2014.
Quickly, residents reported a murky, foamy quality of the water coming from their pipes. After testing positive for high levels of trihalomethanes — a disinfectant byproduct — E. coli bacteria, and lead, city officials lamented that the water was still safe for consumption. It wasn’t until October 2015 that the majority-Black city switched back to Detroit water.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the water crisis exposed nearly 100,000 residents of Flint to lead due to the crisis.
Criminal charges were brought for several deaths related to the contamination, but were later dismissed.
The 2017 lawsuit was settled in 2021 for $626 million, which included an agreement to replace the lead pipes free of charge.
“We would not have reached this day without the work of so many Flint residents who worked to hold our leaders accountable,” Overton said. “I have never been prouder to be a member of the Flint community.”
The report says that roughly 4,000 homes still have lead pipes. Those homes were likely either vacant or homes that belonged to Flint residents who opted out of having the pipes replaced, according to a spokesperson for the advocacy group that led the lawsuit, the Natural Resources Defense Council.