The Flint water crisis gets its first day in court Friday at a federal hearing on a class-action lawsuit against the city and the state of Michigan.
The hearing, set for 8:30 a.m. in Detroit, will focus on motions by the state and city to dismiss the case, according to the attorneys representing residents. It will be the first time lawyers have made oral arguments in the crisis.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Melissa Mays, an attorney with a Flint-based civil rights group, will represent the residents.
“For more than two years, the water in Flint, Mich., has not been safe to drink. Two years is too long to wait for safe tap water. This case is a quintessential example of what Congress had in mind when it empowered citizens to go to federal court to compel city and state officials to comply with the law guaranteeing safe drinking water for all Americans, including the people of Flint,” said Dimple Chaudhary of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The lawsuit charges violations of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, and the residents are asking the federal court to secure safe drinking water for Flint. One of the previous motions in the case asked the court to order bottled water delivery to Flint residences.
In April 2014, a state emergency manager appointed by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed off on a symbolic vote from the Flint City Council to change the city’s water source to a new local authority. While a pipeline was being built, a state official decided the city would get its water from the Flint River instead of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.
The Flint River water, however, was so acidic that it caused the lead pipes bringing water from the city’s cast iron mains into homes to corrode. Lead leached off the pipes and into drinking water throughout the city.
The state and the federal government have declared a state of emergency, and Flint residents are not able to drink the water coming out of their taps.
A report done by the state indicated state environmental officials are at fault for the crisis. Three people — two state regulators and one city official — have been charged with state crimes, and the Michigan attorney general’s office continues to investigate the incident.
President Obama visited the eastern Michigan town last week.
