According to a press release from NRDC (the Natural Resources Defense Council), more than a decade after lead contaminated water was found in Flint, Michigan’s water system, the legal battle to replace lead water pipes is. On July 1, 2025 the State of Michigan submitted a progress report to a federal court confirming that, more than eight years after a court-ordered settlement required Flint officials to replace pipes and restore property damaged in the process, nearly 11,000 lead pipes were replaced and more than 28,000 properties were restored. It was reported by the NRDC that several hundred properties declined the free lead pipe replacement. That is highly irrational.
Outraged by the failure of city, state, and federal agencies
to stop the public health emergency of widespread lead contamination, Flint
residents and nonprofits sued Flint and Michigan state officials to secure safe
water. The result was a landmark settlement in March 2017, under which a
federal court in Detroit ordered Flint to give every resident the opportunity
to have their lead pipe replaced at no cost to the individual property owner,
as well as conduct comprehensive tap water testing, implement a faucet filter
distribution and education program, and maintain funding for health programs to
help residents deal with the effects of Flint’s tainted water.
Since 2017, plaintiffs Melissa Mays, Flint-based Concerned
Pastors for Social Action, ACLU of Michigan and the NRDC have remained vigilant
to hold the city to account for its slow progress in replacing lead pipes and
restoring damage done to lawns, sidewalks, and driveways in the process. The
group returned to court six times in six years to ensure the city properly
managed its lead pipe replacement program and that every eligible resident
received the benefits guaranteed to them by the court-ordered settlement in the
Safe Drinking Water Act lawsuit.
The Flint water crisis drew attention to lead issues across
the U.S. The story of Flint has inspired action in the states, Congress, and
even the White House to replace lead pipes so that no other community would
face a crisis like Flint residents faced and Washington DC before it. Congress
allocated $15 billion to help cities and states identify and replace lead water
pipes. Last year, the EPA issued a new
federal rule requiring every lead pipe to be replaced in the next ten
years. The Trump Administration has not yet agreed to honor the commitment to
replace every lead pipe, but a decision is due later this summer. And so, the
work continues.
The story burst forth in January 2016 when the Governor of
Michigan and the President of the United States declared an emergency in Flint,
Michigan to authorized emergency assistance to provide water, water filters,
water filter cartridges, water test kits, and other necessary items to address
the water crisis. By then the drinking water supply in Flint Michigan had been
contaminated for more than a year. The first contaminant to appear were high
levels of viruses and bacteria, and inorganic contaminants such as salts and
metals which were a result of inadequate treatment of the water, then high
level of lead began to appear in homes. Reportedly, the lead was the result of
slightly caustic, inadequately treated water leaching lead from the old
distribution system pipes.
The problems actually began in 2014 when Flint decided to
switch to the Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA) as the City’s permanent water
source in a cost saving measure as wholesale water rates from the old Detroit
system kept going up- an attempt to support rising maintenance, repair and
operating costs in that system. KWA would supply water to the members by
building a new pipeline from Lake Huron. While waiting for KWA pipeline to be
completed, the City of Flint planned to use the Flint River as a temporary
alternative water source.
The Flint Water Treatment staff and their consultants who had previously only dealt
with distribution, struggled to meet the Safe Drinking Water Act levels at the
water treatment plant. Then residents noticed changes in the smell, color, and
taste of the water coming out of their taps. Tests showed high levels of
bacteria that forced the city to issue boil advisories. In response, the city
upped its chlorine levels to kill the pathogens. This created too many
disinfectant byproducts, which are carcinogens and corrosive. Then the
corrosive water began leaching lead, other metals and whatever else was in the
biofilm on the old pipes into the water in the homes.
Flint’s water department might have been able to avert the
disaster by having a corrosion management plan and using additives to diminish
the corrosiveness of the water at a negligible cost, but there was an
underlying problem that effects not only Flint. For decades instead of
replacing lead pipes urban water companies (especially in poor cities) have
used chemicals to control lead and other chemicals from leaching into the water
supply. Many at the American Water Works Association and other trade groups
have questioned the wisdom of this strategy, there is always some lead leaching
and many scientists believe that there is no safe level of lead in drinking
water.
Most existing lead pipes are over 75 years old, are in the older cities of the
east coast and mid-west and should have been replaced in the normal course of
preventive maintenance program. Unfortunately, that is not how we operate in
the United States. A few cities, including Madison, Wisconsin, and Lansing,
Michigan, have taken steps to remove all of their lead pipes. Such projects can
cost tens of millions of dollars in small communities.
The work is not truly completed. There are still potentially
lead containing plumbing components in residences. However, last month, the
Flint City Council voted to support a program to address these issues through a
combination of federal grant funding and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)
dollars.
The Council voted to allocate $490,000 in grant funds for critical
in-home plumbing improvements. However, a companion resolution proposing a
reallocation of ARPA funds not to exceed $510,000 as matching funds for the
program was held in committee and has not yet been advanced.
This program is intended to supply real, in-home
solutions—replacing outdated pipes, faucets, and water heaters with lead-free
components. The Flint In-Home Plumbing Program will provide:
- Home plumbing inspections
- Total pipe replacement for eligible residences
- Outreach and education to prevent exposure
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