OCEAN

In 1886, William Durant and Josiah Dallas Dort form the Flint Road Cart Company and begin building horse-drawn carriages. The company grows to become one of the world’s largest carriage manufacturers. In 1904, Durant takes over Buick Motor Co., which had been brought to Flint the year before. In 1908, Durant founds General Motors, which brings many jobs to Flint and later earns it the title “Buick City.”

E. coli and total coliform are detected in the water on the city’s west side. The city issues a boil advisory, telling people to boil water before using. City officials attribute the E. coli test results to a “sampling error.” In response, the city increases chlorine levels in the water.

Boiling contaminated tap water will not mitigate or remove the lead in it; in fact, boiling water may concentrate the lead content, making it worse.

General Motors made the decision to buy Lake Huron water from Flint Township for Flint Engine Operations on West Bristol Road due to the high levels of chloride found in the Flint River. This decision was made out of fear that the chloride would cause machines to corrode. The switch followed Flint residents' complaints about the new water source’s smell and taste, as well as three boil water advisories issued in a 22-day period.

The city issues a public notification announcing the water is in violation of drinking water standards. Based on samples collected in 2014, levels of total trihalomethanes (TTHM) were elevated. TTHM byproducts occur when “chlorine interacts with organic matter in the water.”

The state begins to buy water for state offices and continues even after TTHM levels return to normal.

Miguel A. Del Toral, the EPA’s regulations manager in the Ground Water and Drinking Water Branch, writes a memo addressed to his department chief warning of the high lead levels in the Flint water. The memo includes test results from Flint resident LeeAnne Walters’ home, citing “the drinking water samples collected from the Walters' residence on April 28, 2015, contained extremely high lead levels.”

Three whistleblowers emerged at the forefront of public activists raising concerns about Flint water. In September 2015, Marc Edwards, an environmental engineer from Virginia Tech, traveled to Flint and reported that testing revealed high lead levels in residential water samples. One sample had over 1000 parts per billion (ppb) of lead. The EPA’s lead action level is 15 ppb.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician in Flint, was the first doctor to publish a study on the elevated blood lead levels of children in Flint. She went on to testify multiple times before the United States Congress and created Rx Kids, a program aimed at eliminating infant poverty.

Melissa Mays was a resident in Flint who became a water activist when she noticed something was off about the water. She later founded Water You Fighting For, a source of information and community empowerment regarding water crises everywhere. She was also one of the first residents to file a lawsuit due to the damage from the water crisis. She has yet to receive any settlement money.  

It took a year after the switch to the Flint river for national media to start covering the water crisis. Other than local and Detroit news coverage, the New York Times was the only large publication to publish stories on the water crisis before 2015. It wasn’t until Flint Mayor Karen Weaver announced a state of emergency in Flint in December 2015 that there was a national shift in focus toward Flint.

Gov. Rick Snyder declares a state of emergency in Genesee County due to “ongoing health and safety issues caused by lead in the city of Flint’s drinking water,” according to a state press release.

Following his executive order on Jan. 12, 2016, Gov. Snyder called in the assistance of the Michigan National Guard to distribute water and control the allocation of resources such as filters, water testing kits and general public health communications. This took form in more than 270 National Guard members conducting door-to-door services. Within three weeks, a mere 70 Guard members remained on the ground, a reflection of community pushback to their efforts.

On May 4, 2016, while former President Barack Obama was speaking to the residents of Flint at a press conference, he asked for a glass of water. Many people saw this as insensitive, given the timing of the event. The residents of Flint were extremely disappointed with how he handled the water crisis, and even told Obama that he had failed them.

Covid was another obstacle that exacerbated health issues Flint residents were already facing from the water crisis. Despite the hardships, several community groups continued holding events to keep residents engaged.

Under the leadership of Attorney General Dana Nessel, Snyder and fellow Michigan officials are charged with 42 counts of criminal charges due to their involvement in the crisis, ranging from willful neglect of duty to involuntary manslaughter. These charges came after Nessel’s decision to dismiss the previous 15 charges raised by former Attorney General Bill Schuette after she took office in 2019. The 2021 indictments were predicated on the one-man grand jury statute, a legal procedure that grants a single judge the authority to review cases and decide on charges. Nessel’s choice to restart the investigation generated an onslaught of resistance, as Flint residents questioned if justice may ever materialize.

In response to Snyder and his fellow defendants’ challenge of Nessel’s use of a one-man grand jury, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the Attorney General’s Office misused the legal procedure in pursuing the indictments. The employment of the legal process for the purpose of issuing indictments without preliminary hearings was not authorized, according to the Michigan Supreme Court, which then dismissed all felony charges.

After seven years of prosecution, the Michigan Supreme Court decided to not hear the appeals of a lower court’s dismissal order, solidifying the criminal charges’ end. The Flint Water Prosecution Team’s 11 indictments and 42 counts raised against Rick Snyder, Darnell Early and other MDEQ and government officials stood as an attempt to bring justice to the city of Flint. However, the team’s initial choice to prosecute under the one-man grand jury statute ultimately ensured the case’s failure to see a day in court.

Since 2016, more than a dozen law firms have worked on class-action lawsuits to bring justice to the people of Flint. Several of these lawsuits were consolidated into a historic $626.25 million settlement that was approved by Judge Judith Levy of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in 2021. However, claimants still haven’t received a penny.

Four firms are working on separate litigation against the EPA, in which plaintiffs allege that the agency failed to utilize its enforcement authority under the Safe Drinking Water Act to intervene, investigate, obtain compliance and warn Flint residents of the health risks posed by the water. Detroit lawyer Cary McGehee, one of the lead attorneys on the case, spoke to the Flint Unfiltered team about her team’s efforts to bring the EPA to court.

On the 10-year anniversary of the water crisis, hundreds of Flint residents marched to Flint City Hall to protest the lack of action taken to provide the city with reparations.

In October 2024, President Joe Biden announced access to $2.6 billion for national lead pipe replacement, the first batch of funding as part of the enforcement of the EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI). The law aims to remove an estimated 9.2 million lead pipes nationwide. Following the signing of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Biden secured $15 billion for lead pipe replacement and $11.7 billion for Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (DWSRA), which could also be allocated for lead pipe replacement. Lobbying efforts by the water utility and chemical industries attempted to halt state funding in January, but there have been no developments since then.

On Feb. 13, 2025, the National Minority Quality Forum announced that Michigan State University will begin their feasibility assessment of Flint. As a grant recipient, MSU will determine the probability of a successful epidemiological cancer study of disease “clusters” within the city. This follows community outcry and push for greater scientific investigation of the increasing incidence rates, years after the switch. With grant support of $400,000 set to end on Sept. 30, 2026, uncertainty remains as to whether the feasibility project will lead to a subsequent scientific cluster study.