(Reuters) - Michigan must deliver bottled water or provide in-home filtration to all qualified residents in the city of Flint, where lead contamination sparked a public health crisis, a U.S. appellate panel ruled on Friday upholding a lower-court order.

The Flint Water Plant tower is seen in Flint, Michigan, U.S. on February 7, 2016. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo

The state argued that door-to-door deliveries to all Flint households exposed to lead-tainted tap water would be financially crippling and was unnecessary because bottled water was available to residents at government-run distribution sites, or by delivery upon request.

But a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling, refused the state’s plea to set aside the blanket water-delivery order imposed on Nov. 10 by U.S. District Judge David Lawson.

“Although there may be no known precedent for the door-to-door delivery of bottled water, there is also no precedent for the systematic infrastructure damage to a water delivery system that has caused thousands of people to be exposed to poisonous water,” circuit judges Damon Keith and Bernice Donald wrote in Friday’s opinion.

The appeals court disputed the state’s cost projection for blanket home deliveries - $10.5 million a month - as “disingenuous” and “not supported by the record.”

Under Lawson’s order, city and state officials must provide in-home filtration or deliver four cases of bottled water per affected household each week, except where they can prove a water filter is installed and properly maintained, or to residents opting out.

Governor Rick Snyder’s office said that bottled water had been furnished by delivery for months to those residents who requested it.

“The state and city are in agreement that bottled water deliveries to residents who do not require them will reduce the progress made in the city’s recovery,” a statement said.

Michigan has been at the center of a public health crisis since last year, when tests found high levels of lead in blood samples taken from children in Flint, a predominantly black city of 100,000.

The contamination was linked to an April 2014 decision by a state-appointed emergency manager to switch Flint’s water source to the Flint River from Lake Huron to save money. The more corrosive river water caused lead to leach from city pipes into the drinking water.

Flint switched back in October 2015, but the water has not fully returned to normal. The city has been replacing lead pipes running to homes, and state officials have said the water is safe to drink if properly filtered. </s> DETROIT — A federal appeals court on Friday refused to block delivery of free bottled water in Flint if residents have trouble with lead filters, saying Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's administration is exaggerating the scope and cost of compliance.

In a 2-1 decision, the court said delivery might be unusual. But it noted there's "no precedent" for a system that "has caused thousands of people to be exposed to poisonous water."

"The injunction is in place to ensure that those people have access to clean water," said judges Damon Keith and Bernice Donald at the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

On Nov. 10, U.S. District Judge David Lawson said the state and Flint must deliver water to people who don't have a properly working filter and want the water. Free bottled water and filters have been available all over the city for months, but the judge said the response still hasn't been totally effective.

The state and outside experts insist water quality has greatly improved in Flint since the city stopped using the Flint River in 2015, although people still are urged to use filters. The river water wasn't treated to reduce corrosion, causing lead to leach from old pipes in the city of roughly 100,000 residents.

The appeals court said the state has been "disingenuous" with earlier claims that it would cost $10.5 million a month to deliver bottled water.

"For homes that have properly installed water filters, bottled delivery is not ordered. It is only ordered for homes where there is no proper filter in place," the court said.

"Do the plaintiffs really want the state's and city's limited resources focused on immediate door-to-door delivery now as opposed to using that measure as a last resort if the defendants cannot ensure that the filters are working in, say, two or three months?" Sutton said.

It's unclear how many homes would qualify for home delivery. The state says every Flint home has been visited and 96 had new filters.

"The courts have spoken and the state of Michigan's foot-dragging must end now," said Dimple Chaudhary, attorney with the Natural Resources Council.

In an update filed Friday, the state said it wants to meet with the judge to discuss "significant logistical difficulties" with home delivery.

"A sufficient number of available vans, semi-trucks, drivers, and apparently does not currently exist to immediately implement this delivery program. Such an effort could only be implemented gradually over several months," Assistant Attorney General Richard Kuhl said.

This story has been corrected to show that the second judge on majority opinion was Bernice Donald, not Jeffrey Sutton. </s> CLOSE

Flint/Genesee County Job Corps Center students gather cases of water to distribute at the school to those in need during the Flint water crisis on Wednesday March 30, 2016 at the Flint/Genesee County Job Corps Center. Water has been given-away on Wednesday's at the location on Saginaw Street for the past five months. The Food Bank of Eastern Michigan delivers ten pallets each Wednesday to be distributed. Residents are able to load up with as much water as they need. (Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)

LANSING -- A federal appeals court on Friday refused to stay a judge's order that requires the State of Michigan to make regular deliveries of bottled water to Flint households that don't have a working water filter on their kitchen taps.

Friday's 2-1 ruling by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals marks the third time a federal court has told the state to begin the water deliveries, which the state argues is unnecessary and too costly.

U.S. District Judge David Lawson has twice ordered the state to start the bottled water deliveries to all households that the state can't demonstrate has a properly installed and maintained water filter to remove lead contamination.

The state continues to fight Lawson's order and filed a new motion this week saying the water deliveries aren't needed because the unfiltered tap water in Flint now meets federal standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The City of Flint says in court filings it supports the state's request to stay Lawson's order.

The majority on the 6th Circuit said the state's "disingenuous claim that the daily delivery of bottled water would be at an expense of $10.5 million a month, is not supported by the record."

"Flint residents continue to suffer irreparable harm from the lack of reliable access to safe drinking water," said Senior Judge Damon Keith and Judge Bernice Donald.

"Many residents who rely on filters that are improperly installed continue to be at risk of exposure to lead. Compliance with the order only requires that the state defendants deliver bottled water to homes until they ensure that a home has a properly installed and maintained water filter, or if the the residents opt out of the delivery service."

The order arose from a lawsuit brought by Concerned Pastors for Flint, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the ACLU, and Flint resident and activist Melissa Mays.

“The courts have spoken and the State of Michigan’s foot-dragging must end now,” said Dimple Chaudhary, senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Defendants in the case are Michigan Treasurer Nick Khouri and members of the state-appointed Flint Receivership Transition Advisory Board, which is overseeing Flint's return from state-ordered receivership to self-government.

Anna Heaton, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Snyder, said the state has been delivering bottled water to Flint residents who call 2-1-1 to request it, and will continue to do so.

"The state and city are in agreement that bottled water deliveries to residents who do not require them will reduce the progress made in the city’s recovery," Heaton said in an e-mail.

"The dispute in this matter is over science, not over providing resources to residents of Flint," she said. "This is a complex issue where the data is monitored closely and updated frequently and the court did not address more recent testing showing Flint’s lead levels under the federal action level."

Mays said in a news release issued by the NRDC that “today’s decision is much-needed good news for the people of Flint," adding "I’m especially pleased the court rejected the State’s complaints about the ‘burden’ of delivering safe drinking water to Flint."

In a dissent, Judge Jeffrey Sutton said it's not clear that the Flint drinking water is still in violation of federal law and ordering the water delivery could "do more harm than good."

Sutton said the state defendants should focus on "measuring current water quality and ensuring that each filter works," but "that most assuredly will not happen in the face of this order."

Flint was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager when the drinking water became contaminated in April 2014, due to improper treatment of Flint River water after the city stopped getting its drinking water from Detroit.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.

Read or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/2hXszLK </s> DETROIT (AP) — Michigan's attorney general in 2016 promised to investigate "without fear or favor" the scandal over Flint's lead-tainted drinking water and pledged that state regulators would be locked up for fudging data and misleading the public.

Yet three years later, no one is behind bars. Instead, seven of 15 defendants have pleaded no contest to misdemeanors, some as minor as disrupting a public meeting. Their records eventually will be scrubbed clean.

That has angered some people in Flint who believe key players who could have prevented the lead disaster are getting off easy. Four of five people at the state Department of Environmental Quality who were on the front line of the crisis have struck deals. The remaining cases mostly center on a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires' disease and early disastrous decisions to use water from the Flint River.

"I'm furious – absolutely furious," said LeeAnne Walters, a mother of four who is credited with exposing the lead contamination. "It's a slap in the face to every victim in the city of Flint."

Walters, 40, said she was repeatedly brushed off by the Department of Environmental Quality, known as DEQ, even as she confronted officials with bottles of brown water. She testified in Congress after then-Gov. Rick Snyder in 2015 finally acknowledged the lead mess, and she later was honored with an international prize for grassroots environmental activism.

"Instead of people being held accountable, they're getting a free pass," Walters said. "The fact remains there wouldn't have been a problem with the lead and the legionella if the water had been treated properly, if MDEQ would have done their job."

Flint was one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in U.S. history. While waiting for a new pipeline to bring water from Lake Huron, the majority-black city of 100,000 pulled water from a river in 2014-15 without treating it to reduce corrosive effects on old pipes. Lead infected the distribution system in Flint, where 41 percent of residents are classified by the government as living in poverty.

Due to poor finances, Flint was being run by financial managers appointed by the governor. The uproar over water quality reached a peak by fall 2015 when a doctor reported high levels of lead in children, which can cause brain damage. The water no longer comes from the river and has significantly improved, but some residents are so distrustful that they continue to use bottled water. </s> FLINT, Mich. - Michigan’s attorney general in 2016 promised to investigate “without fear or favor” the scandal over Flint’s lead-tainted drinking water and pledged that state regulators would be locked up for fudging data and misleading the public.

Yet three years later, no one is behind bars. Instead, seven of 15 defendants have pleaded no contest to misdemeanors, some as minor as disrupting a public meeting. Their records eventually will be scrubbed clean.

That has angered some people in Flint who believe key players who could have prevented the lead disaster are getting off easy. Four of five people at the state Department of Environmental Quality who were on the front line of the crisis have struck deals. The remaining cases mostly center on a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease and early disastrous decisions to use water from the Flint River.

“I’m furious — absolutely furious,” said LeeAnne Walters, a mother of four who is credited with exposing the lead contamination. “It’s a slap in the face to every victim in the city of Flint.”

Walters, 40, said she was repeatedly brushed off by the Department of Environmental Quality, known as DEQ, even as she confronted officials with bottles of brown water. She testified in Congress after then-Gov. Rick Snyder in 2015 finally acknowledged the lead mess, and she later was honored with an international prize for grassroots environmental activism.

“Instead of people being held accountable, they’re getting a free pass,” Walters said. “The fact remains there wouldn’t have been a problem with the lead and the legionella if the water had been treated properly, if MDEQ would have done their job.”

Flint was one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in U.S. history. While waiting for a new pipeline to bring water from Lake Huron, the majority-black city of 100,000 pulled water from a river in 2014-15 without treating it to reduce corrosive effects on old pipes. Lead infected the distribution system in Flint, where 41 percent of residents are classified by the government as living in poverty.

Due to poor finances, Flint was being run by financial managers appointed by the governor. The uproar over water quality reached a peak by fall 2015 when a doctor reported high levels of lead in children, which can cause brain damage. The water no longer comes from the river and has significantly improved, but some residents are so distrusful that they continue to use bottled water.

Liane Shekter Smith, who was fired as head of Michigan’s drinking water office, was charged with misconduct in office and neglect of duty. Special prosecutor Todd Flood later put her on notice that he would pursue an involuntary manslaughter charge, arguing that she could have shut down the Flint water plant and reduced the threat of legionella bacteria, which causes Legionnaires’.

But charges were dropped on Jan. 7 in exchange for a no-contest plea to an obscure misdemeanor that will not result in any jail time: disturbance of a lawful meeting. She had declined to accept a report about water quality from Walters and others. Two other key agency employees, Michael Prysby and Stephen Busch, made deals on Dec. 26. All three will have their records erased if they cooperate with Flood.

Shekter Smith wanted “to put some closure on this matter,” attorney Brian Morley said of her plea agreement. “Criminal charges weren’t warranted.”

State Sen. Jim Ananich of Flint, who runs his water through a filter, said he’s listened to frustrated residents.

“At the beginning there was a feeling of good, someone is going to be held accountable. Now people don’t believe anyone is going to be held accountable,” he said.

The outcome so far is different than the dramatic scene in 2016 when Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican who was poised to run for governor, traveled to Flint to announce felony charges against Prysby, a DEQ engineer, and Busch, a DEQ regional supervisor.

“Mr. Busch and Mr. Prysby misled federal and local authorities, regulatory officials, and failed to provide safe and clean water to families of Flint,” Schuette declared at that time. “When we prove these allegations — and we will — Mr. Busch and Mr. Prysby will be facing five years in prison for this count alone.”

Andy Arena, a Flint water investigator and former head of the FBI in Detroit, believes the plea deals are appropriate.

“There are culpable folks out there that we need to get to,” he said. “This is how it works: You cut deals with certain people to move the case up the line. I believe these people have some information that could significantly assist in our ongoing investigation.”

Schuette, who lost the governor’s race and is out of public office, said: “I stand with Andy,” referring to Arena. Flood declined to comment on his strategy.

The new attorney general, Dana Nessel, has asked a Detroit-area prosecutor to review the remaining cases , including involuntary manslaughter charges against Nick Lyon, the former head of the Michigan health department who has been ordered to trial.

Lyon is accused of failing to alert the public in a timely manner about the Legionnaires’ outbreak, which has been linked to foul water and at least 12 deaths. Dr. Eden Wells, who was Michigan’s chief medical executive, also is facing an involuntary manslaughter trial, although both cases are tied up in appeals by aggressive defense teams.

Gerald Ambrose and Darnell Earley, who were state-appointed emergency managers when Flint was using river water, are also charged. They’re accused of being obsessed with saving money instead of protecting residents. All have pleaded not guilty.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> FLINT, MI -- A drinking water expert says regulators at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality should have known they were flirting with disaster when they allowed the city to treat its own water in 2014.

Robert Bowcock, who visited Flint’s water plant in early 2015, told Genesee District Court Judge Jennifer Manley Wednesday, Jan. 15, that he could see problems as soon as he walked in the front door and so should have DEQ officials who had oversight responsibilities.

“It was a mess and the reason it was a mess was it was a treatment plant ... that was seldom used ... and sat in mothballs 50 weeks out of the year ...,” said Bowcock, a longtime associate of environmental activist Erin Brockovich. “It was sort of like grandma’s Chevy .. full of spider webs, dust and bad oil.”

Flint’s water source was changed from pre-treated Lake Huron water to the Flint River in April 2014 and the city’s treatment plant was put into full-time operation for the first time since 1967 in what was promoted as a temporary, cost-saving move while the city was being run by a state-appointed emergency manager.

City, state and federal officials agree that the river water was never properly treated to make it less corrosive to Flint’s water distribution system, which included transmission lines made of lead.

Bowcock testified Wednesday during the preliminary examination of Patrick Cook, a specialist for the DEQ’s Community Drinking Water Unit.

Cook, 55, is the last of four current and former DEQ officials originally charged with criminal wrongdoing related to the Flint water crisis. Three other defendants accepted plea agreements with prosecutors in the past several weeks.

Cook remains charged with willful neglect of duty, misconduct in office and conspiracy.

Here are the next steps for 8 remaining Flint water crisis defendants

Prosecutors allege that he was the DEQ official responsible for compliance with the Lead and Copper Rule and that he signed a permit in 2014 that was necessary for the use of the Flint water plant.

They claim he was aware of problems in Flint but took no action to ensure residents received clean, safe drinking water and misled the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regarding the necessity of treating Flint River water to make it less corrosive.

Cook’s attorneys have claimed their client is not guilty of the charges and pointed out Wednesday that Bowcock spent only a few hours at the water plant and never had first-hand dealings with Cook.

Bowcock traveled to Flint while the city was struggling to control bacteria and total trihalomethanes in the water system. Only later in 2015 did problems with elevated lead become public as well as suspicions that outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease were linked to Flint water.

New boss of Flint water prosecutions vows to 'right the ship’

In meeting with city officials at the time, he testified that he recommended the city “back off” its heavy use of chemicals like lime in an effort to control water quality.

Bowcock said it should have been “reasonably foreseeable” that Flint would have problems with the safety and quality of its water after the city’s water source was changed to the river without corrosion control.

“I did not feel confident the water leaving the plant that day (I visited) was safe,” Bowcock testified.

Unlike other witnesses who have testified about specific problems with equipment inside the Flint treatment plant, Bowcock said the problems were widespread because the plant hadn’t been used to regularly produce drinking water for decades.

The plant was built in 1956.

“It was generally in disrepair ... just a dirty old treatment plant -- not the kind of thing that you just whimsically fire up to save a few bucks,” he said. </s> Flint, MICH (WXYZ) - - Michigan Health Director Nick Lyon has just been charged with involuntary manslaughter and misconduct in office in connection to the Flint water crisis.

Dr. Eden Wells with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has also been charged with obstruction of justice and lying to a police officer.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette says he will have an update on the state’s investigation into the Flint water crisis later this morning.

 

 In addition to Lyons and Wells, 13 people have been charged, including two former emergency managers.

 

 Today's announcement comes just a day after a group delivered more than 1,000 water bottles to Lansing as a message to the governor and attorney general.

 

 The group placed messages in the water bottles, detailing how the water crisis has impacted them, bringing them to the state officers.

 

 They say they are thirsty for safe drinking water.

 

 For more than three years, Flint families have been told not to drink tap water without a filter.

 

 As the state investigation continues, progress has been made to begin replacing the corroded pipes that caused the lead contamination, but families still want answers and a faster fix.

 

 Seven Action News will have a team in Flint covering this announcement closely.

 

 You can also watch a live stream right here starting at 11 a.m. </s> FLINT, Mich. (AP) - Michigan prosecutors dropped all criminal charges Thursday against eight people in the Flint water scandal and pledged to start the investigation from scratch. Officials said that since the election of a new attorney general, they have acquired a lot of new evidence that significantly expands of the scope of the investigation. They say the defendants, including Michigan's former health director, Nick Lyon, could be charged again.

Here's a look back at key moments in the crisis:

April 2014: In an effort to save money, Flint begins drawing water from the Flint River for its 100,000 residents. The move is considered temporary while the city waits to connect to a new regional water system. Residents immediately complain about the water's smell, taste and appearance, and they raise health concerns, reporting rashes, hair loss and other problems.

January 2015: Detroit offers to reconnect Flint to its water system, but Flint leaders insist the water is safe.

Sept. 24, 2015: A group of doctors urges Flint to stop using the Flint River for water after finding high levels of lead in the blood of Flint children. State regulators insist the water is safe.

Sept. 29, 2015: Then-Gov. Rick Snyder pledges to take action in response to the lead levels - the first acknowledgment by the state that lead is a problem.

October 2015: Snyder announces that the state will spend $1 million to buy water filters and test water in Flint public schools, and days later calls for Flint to go back to using water from Detroit's system.

Dec. 29, 2015: Snyder accepts the resignation of Department of Environmental Quality Director Dan Wyant and apologizes for what occurred in Flint.

Jan. 5, 2016: Snyder declares a state of emergency in Flint, the same day federal officials confirm that they are investigating. A week later, the Michigan National Guard begins helping to distribute bottled water and filters, while Snyder asks the federal government for help.

Jan. 14, 2016: Snyder, a Republican, asks the Obama administration for a major disaster declaration and more federal aid. The White House provides federal aid and an emergency declaration on Jan. 16, but not the disaster declaration.

Jan. 15, 2016: Then-Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette begins an "independent review" into the Flint crisis.

Mid-March. 2016: State officials testify before Congress, including Snyder and the state-appointed emergency manager who oversaw Flint when the water source was switched to the river.

March 23, 2016: A governor-appointed panel concludes that the state of Michigan is "fundamentally accountable" for the crisis because of decisions made by environmental regulators.

April 20, 2016: Two state officials and a local official are charged with evidence tampering and other crimes in the state attorney general's investigation - the first charges to come from the probe.

Aug. 14, 2016: A federal emergency declaration over Flint's lead-tainted water crisis ends, but state officials say work continues to fix the drinking water system and provide services to city residents.

Dec. 10, 2016: Congress approves a wide-ranging bill to authorize water projects across the country, including $170 million to address lead in Flint's drinking water.

Dec. 16, 2016: Congressional Republicans quietly close a yearlong investigation into Flint's crisis, faulting both state officials and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Dec. 20, 2016: Schuette charges former emergency managers Darnell Earley and Gerald Ambrose with multiple 20-year felonies for their failure to protect the residents of Flint from health hazards caused by contaminated drinking water. He also charges Earley, Ambrose and two Flint city employees with felony counts of false pretenses and conspiracy to commit false pretenses in the issuance of bonds to pay for a portion of the water project that led to the crisis.

Feb. 17, 2017: The Michigan Civil Rights Commission issues a report that finds "systemic racism" going back decades is at the core of problems that caused the water crisis in majority black Flint.

March 16, 2017: Snyder says his administration will enact the country's toughest lead limits for water.

March 28, 2017: Water lines in Flint homes will be replaced under a landmark deal approved by a judge.

June 14, 2017: Michigan Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon is accused of failing to alert the public about an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in the Flint area that some experts believe resulted from the poorly treated water. He and four others are charged with involuntary manslaughter. The state's chief medical officer, Dr. Eden Wells, is charged with obstruction of justice and lying to an investigator.

April 2018: Snyder ends Flint water distribution, saying the city's tap water had significantly improved.

July 19, 2018: A federal watchdog calls on the EPA to strengthen its oversight of state drinking water systems nationwide and to respond more quickly to public health emergencies like Flint's. The EPA says it agrees with the inspector general's recommendations and is adopting them "expeditiously."

Aug. 20, 2018: A judge orders Lyon to stand trial on involuntary manslaughter charges in the deaths of two men linked to the Legionnaires' disease outbreak.

Dec. 7, 2018: A judge orders Wells to stand trial on involuntary manslaughter and other charges.

Jan. 7: Liane Shekter Smith, Michigan's former drinking water regulator, pleads no contest to a misdemeanor - disturbance of a lawful meeting - in the Flint water investigation. It's a break for Smith, who had been facing felony charges, including involuntary manslaughter.

April 16: Todd Flood, a special prosecutor who spent three years leading a criminal investigation of the Flint water scandal, is fired in the fallout from the discovery of 23 boxes of records in the basement of a state building.

May: Authorities execute search warrants to take from government storage the state-owned mobile devices of former Gov. Snyder, top aides and other government employees related to the water crisis probe.

June 13: Prosecutors drop all criminal charges against eight people in the Flint water scandal and pledge to start the investigation from scratch. Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud, who took control of the investigation in January after the election of a new attorney general, says "all available evidence was not pursued" by the previous team of prosecutors. Officials say it's possible that the former defendants could be charged again.

FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2018, file photo, Nick Lyon, director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, listens closely as Genesee District Judge David J. Goggins gives his decision during Lyon's preliminary examination at Genesee District Court in Flint, Mich. Prosecutors say they're dismissing all criminal charges against eight people in the Flint water scandal and starting the investigation over again. The eight people include former Michigan health director Nick Lyon. He was accused of failing to timely inform the public about an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease when Flint was using improperly treated water from the Flint River in 2014 and 2015. The outbreak occurred at the same time that the city's water system was contaminated with lead. Lyon was the highest-ranking official to be charged in the investigation. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP, File) </s> June 13 (UPI) -- Michigan prosecutors dropped all criminal cases related to the Flint water crisis Thursday in order to give the attorney general's office more time to investigate.

Michigan Deputy Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud said she and Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy found new evidence in the investigation into the crisis that left at least 12 people dead.

The office is dropping the manslaughter cases of Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon and form Chief Medical executive Eden Wells, as well as cases against six other state and city officials. Their cases could be reopened in the future.

The investigation into the cause and liabilities related to the Flint water crisis began under the tenure of former Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, but Dana Nessel took over the office earlier this year.

Nessel appointed Hammoud and Worthy to review the criminal cases.

"I trust them and if this step is necessary for them to do a comprehensive and complete investigation," Nessel said, "I am in absolute support.

"I want to remind the people of Flint that justice delayed is not always justice denied and a fearless and dedicated team of career prosecutors and investigators are hard at work to ensure those who harmed you are held accountable."

The water crisis began April 25, 2014, when city officials switched Flint's water supply from treated Lake Huron and Detroit water to raw water from the Flint River, which was then treated at the Flint Water Treatment Plant. The new source wasn't sufficiently cleaned and lead leached from the city's old pipes into the water supply, poisoning about 100,000 Flint residents over a period of 17 months. At least 12 people died from Legionnaires' disease linked to the contaminated water, and the city faced dozens of lawsuits that accused officials of recklessness and negligence.

Marc Edwards, an environmental engineer professor at Virginia Tech who helped uncover the water contamination, testified before Congress in February 2016 that state and federal officials tried to cover up proof of high lead levels. He said Susan Herman, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's former Midwest chief, and Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality dismissed information about contaminants in the city's water system.
A Federal appeals court upholds the November 10 lower court order that Michigan must deliver bottled water or provide in-home filtration to all qualified residents affected by lead contamination in the city of Flint.