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'Flint is not fixed': Activists demand change years after water crisis started

By and FOX 2 Staff
Published  February 15, 2023 5:49pm EST
Flint Water Crisis
FOX 2 Detroit

Flint residents demand action, new deadline to replace lead pipes

Activists are fighting for Flint residents who are still scared to drink the city's water. Lead service lines still aren't completely replaced, and the city no longer gives out bottled water.

FLINT, Mich. (FOX 2) - Activists visited the federal courthouse in Detroit on Wednesday to demand a new deadline to replace lead pipes in Flint and restore the city's bottled water distribution program.

"Today is day number 3,218 since our water was switched in Flint by the city and state of Michigan. Since then, the city, state of Michigan, and federal government have failed us," said Melissa Mays, with Flint Rising. 

Mays said Flint has not followed through on its pipe replacement and restoration agreement from 2017, which was supposed to be finished in 2020. Nearly a decade after the Flint Water Crisis began, residents don't feel safe drinking the water.

"There are people still having rashes, bacterial infections. It has not stopped. The Flint water crisis is not over. Flint is not fixed," she said.

Read: Appeals court denies prosecutors bid to revive charges in Flint Water Crisis

While the lead levels in Flint’s water, currently around 9 parts per billion, aren't high enough for the government to take action, residents won’t be satisfied until that number is zero.

"We want a right to live. We want a right to drink safe water. We want a right for our children to live. For pregnant mothers to have babies and not have to abort their babies because of the water," said Bernadel Jefferson, with Concerned Pastors for Social Action.