Michigan To Pay $87M To Replace Flint's Lead Pipes By 2020

DETROIT, MI — The state of Michigan will pick up the tab for the replacement of 18,000 lead or galvanized water lines in Flint by 2020 under an agreement that settles a lawsuit over lead-contaminated water, settling lingering questions for financially strapped Flint residents.

The city will continue with a water line replacement project, and the state will pay the $87 million from state and federal funds, the Associated Press reported. Another $10 million will be kept in reserve.

Lead leached from the old water lines when the city switched its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River in 2014, exposing residents of the city of about 100,000 to dangerously high levels of lead. The river water wasn't properly treated.

So far, about 700 lines have been replaced, the AP said.

Dimple Chaudhary, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council working with the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan to represent Flint residents in the lawsuit, called the agreement a victory.

“It provides a comprehensive framework to address lead in Flint tap water and covers a number of critical issues related to water safety,” Chaudhary told The Associated Press.

The NRCD, ACLU-Michigan, Concerned Pastors for Social Action and Flint resident Melissa Mays filed the lawsuit last year. It alleged the water in Flint wasn’t safe to drink because state and city officials were violating the Safe Drinking Water Act.

The settlement is subject to approval by a federal court judge. A hearing is set for 1 p.m. Tuesday before U.S. District Judge David Lawson.

Image: Work continues on the water replacement lines in Flint and must be completed by 2020 under an agreement reached Monday. (AP Photo/Chris Ehrmann)