Water distribution at Latinx Technology & Community Center in Flint

FLINT, MI -- Seven years after the city’s water source was switched, triggering the Flint water crisis, the fallout continues to cast its pall.

While the city expects to close out three major water infrastructure projects related to the water crisis, including the final phase of a pipe replacement program, this year, other reminders of the man-made emergency linger with no clear end in sight.

Although a partial settlement of civil lawsuits filed on behalf of Flint residents could be approved later this year, the cases are continuing against defendants that have so far refused to settle their cases, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Criminal cases against nine current and former city and state employees are just getting started, slowed by a review of grand jury testimony and evidence that led to the indictments in January.

“There is still more work to be done, but we are moving our community forward in a positive direction,” Mayor Sheldon Neeley said in a statement issued days before the water crisis anniversary. “The first step to re-earning trust in this community is repairing our infrastructure. After seven long years, I am proud to say we are making significant progress.”

The service line replacement program that started five years ago could be finished by early this summer following the city council’s approval this month of a contract extension for Rowe Professional Services, the project manager.

Nearly 27,000 water service lines have been dug up by contractors and nearly 10,000 lead and galvanized steel pipes, damaged by corrosive Flint River water, have been replaced so far through the $97-million project. An estimated 500 more homes still require excavation before the program can be closed out.

In addition to that program, a new $6-million chemical feed building at the Flint water treatment plant on Dort Highway is scheduled for completion during the next eight months as well as a secondary water source connection, a $17-million project.

Although Flint buys pre-treated water from the Great Lakes Water Authority, the new connection to the Genesee County public water system will provide an emergency backup supply in case service from GLWA is ever disrupted.

The city said in a news release Friday, April 23, that work completed on water infrastructure projects so far amounts to $104 million of the $167 million in state and federal funds allocated for water system upgrades.

In the most recent lead and copper testing of city water, completed in December, the 90th percentile lead levels in Flint were 6 parts per billion, far below federal action levels. That means 90 percent of water samples at taps considered at higher risk of lead contamination were below 6 parts per billion of lead. The federal threshold is 15 ppb.

The effect of Flint’s water on those who drank it is at the center of the proposed partial settlement of civil lawsuits in state and federal courts.

U.S. District Court Judge Judith E. Levy has given the $641-million settlement preliminary approval, but as of Friday, more than 100 objections had been logged in federal court for a variety of reasons, including objections to the formula being used to divide the money and the amount of the settlement attorneys have requested.

Levy has scheduled a July 12 fairness hearing to hear those objections.

As of March 30, the claims administrator for the settlement had received approximately 45,422 registrations that had been screened and initially reviewed, the first step in making a claim for part of the settlement.

Among the potential snags ahead for the settlement is the potential for one of the settling defendants -- McLaren Regional Medical Center -- to pull out of the agreement and fight the cases in which it has been named in court.

Attorney Geoffrey Fieger said this week that 25 clients with pending water crisis lawsuits don’t want to settle their cases against McLaren, which has the ability to walk away from the deal if any of the individual lawsuits against it continue.

In addition to McLaren, which contributed $20 million to the settlement, the state of Michigan ($600 million), the city of Flint ($20 million) and Rowe ($1.25 million) have agreed to settle, contributing to the settlement fund in exchange for being excused from the pending cases in state and federal courts.

Whatever happens to the settlement, those cases are continuing against other parties that have so far refused to settle, including EPA, Flint water consultants, and bond underwriters involved in the financing of the Karegnondi Water Authority.

The initial civil trials tied to the water crisis are currently scheduled to begin in October in federal court.

Nine criminal cases tied to the water crisis, including one charging former Gov. Rick Snyder with two counts of willful neglect of duty, have started in Genesee County District and circuit courts, but have been slow to take shape, partly because of a review of grand jury documents by Chief Circuit Judge Duncan Beagle.

In February, Beagle ordered grand jury records and transcripts from 45 witnesses in the cases to be delivered to him for in-chamber review and set a June 14 review date to give him time to inspect and decide what records should be turned over for discovery in the cases, seven of which are pending before Circuit Judge Elizabeth Kelly.

Snyder and former Flint Department of Public Works Director Howard Croft had their cases assigned to Genesee District Court because they do not face felony charges.

In addition to Snyder and Croft, those charged with criminal wrongdoing related to the water crisis include his former senior advisor Richard Baird, former Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon, former Chief Medical Officer Dr. Eden Wells, two former Flint emergency financial managers, Darnell Earley and Gerald Ambrose, former Snyder Chief of Staff and Communications Director Jarrod Agen and Nancy Peeler, Director of the MDHHS Program for Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting.

Attorneys representing those defendants have already filed motions to dismiss charges in some cases, questioning the authority of a one-man grand jury and the scope of his authority. Others, including attorneys for Snyder, have said they were arraigned in the wrong county.

Flint finishes water testing early, results far below federal lead threshold

Attorney Geoffrey Fieger says 25 clients won’t be ‘strong-armed’ into joining Flint water settlement

Federal court still counting how many registered for piece of Flint water settlement

Former Flint mayors object to water crisis settlement, ask to speak at fairness hearing

Former Gov. Snyder, 8 others criminally charged, accused of trampling trust of Flint people

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