The good news is that the most recent tests of its water system show that Flint, Michigan’s water has less than half the level of lead contamination that would trigger state and federal action. However, between dozens of court cases, ongoing work to find and replace lead-contaminated pipes, and hundreds if not thousands of people still scared to trust the water coming from their taps, fallout from the Flint water crisis is far from over.
On the court action front, newly elected Attorney General Dana Nessel announced several major changes on Feb. 21 to the way both the civil and criminal cases will be handled. During the press event, Nessel said that new Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud will take the lead on the criminal cases alongside Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who is famous for successfully prosecuting former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, among other cases. Todd Flood, an outside counsel who was originally appointed by former Attorney General Bill Schuette, will remain on the team.
Nessel further announced that she will take the lead on the 79 civil cases that have been filed against the state on grounds ranging from personal injury and property damage to alleged violations of the federal Clean Drinking Water Act. Nessel, a Democrat, also reversed course by announcing that she is in talks to settle many of those suits.
According to a Gongwer News Service report on the press conference, the attorney general did not announce whether or not her office plans to continue to pursue criminal charges against former Health and Human Services director Nick Lyon and former chief medical executive Dr. Eden Wells. The AG’s office has so far also refused to state whether charges may be brought against higher-ranking officials in the Snyder administration, including former Gov. Rick Snyder himself.
Nessel’s spokesperson Dan Olsen told Daily Kos that Prosecutor Worthy was added to the Flint criminal case team because she “has a depth and breadth of knowledge, and experience will be a valuable asset to the Solicitor General’s team.” While Olsen wouldn’t directly state whether or not former Gov. Snyder may eventually be charged, he added that, “anyone who our team finds criminally responsible in these cases or believes should be interviewed, will be interviewed and held accountable. No one is above the law.”
On Feb. 21, The Detroit News reported that more than $30 million in state money has been spent so far on prosecutions, defense, and civil litigation arising from the crisis. This includes funds spent on private attorneys who are defending Lyon, Wells, and other former Snyder administration officials. According to the report, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is reviewing whether or not to cut off state legal aid for those defendants.
While Michigan’s attorney general is busy reorganizing how dozens of court cases are handled and the Whitmer administration is considering whether or not to continue footing the bill to defend former state officials, the city of Flint is busy finding and replacing lead-containing water pipes.
According to a Dec. 10 news release issued by the city, “to date, service lines to 7,741 homes have been identified as lead and/or galvanized and have been replaced, including 1,513 homes” discovered in 2018.
The effort to identify and replace lead-contaminated pipes will be getting a boost from the Whitmer administration. On Feb. 19, Gov. Whitmer visited the city and announced that her administration would release more than $6 million in funding that had been held back by the Snyder administration in an effort to force the city to use a less expensive, but potentially less safe, method for excavating the pipes. According to an MLive account of the governor’s visit, Whitmer said that “The city’s work to finish the replacement of water service lines doesn’t need to be micromanaged by the state.”
Flint officials didn’t respond to requests for updated information in time for the deadline for this article.
Flint’s water-related problems aren’t limited to the dozens of court cases and the complexities involved in locating and replacing lead-lined pipes. On the ground, the issue is much more direct as many residents, who have been burned before, still don’t trust that their water is safe to drink.
On Jan. 30, the nonprofit Bridge news service reported that one of the city’s three remaining water help stations alone was providing donated water to about 500 families every week. On March 4, the Pacific Standard reported that Jaden Smith’s JUST goods foundation will partner with Trinity Baptist Church to provide free, mobile filtration systems to Flint residents.
Those filtration systems may come just in time. According to the Bridge report, the Whitmer administration hasn’t committed to resuming state-funded bottled water distribution when current supplies of donated water run out. Nestlé, which has donated more than 6 million bottles of water to city residents (while simultaneously being allowed to take more than 1 million gallons of Michigan water a day for just $200 a year), hasn’t committed to continuing donations once the current supplies run out.
Dawn Wolfe is a freelance writer and journalist based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
This post was written and reported through our Daily Kos freelance program.