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Gov. Rick Snyder, shown in this Flint Journal file photo, asked for mediation in the civil lawsuit brought against the state and city of Flint over Flint water.
(Flint Journal file photo)
FLINT, MI -- Parties to a civil lawsuit have agreed to a settlement that guarantees replacement of 18,000 lead and galvanized service lines in Flint but not the door-to-door water deliveries that had been specifically requested while that work is done.
Filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit on Monday, March 27, the settlement agreement comes close to ending a legal fight that pitted Flint pastors, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Resources Defense Council against the state of Michigan and the city of Flint.
A hearing on a request to approve the settlement, which legally binds the city and the state for the first time to take specific actions, is scheduled for Tuesday, March 28, before Judge David M. Lawson.
In some ways, the settlement makes legally binding plans the city and state have committed to previously.
Late last week, the Flint City Council voted unanimously to approve the settlement and the Flint Receivership Transition Advisory Board followed suit Monday.
Gov. Rick Snyder first asked for mediation in the case late last year after Lawson issued an injunction, requiring the home delivery of bottled water to homes unless officials could prove there was an operating, properly-installed water filter in the house.
The NRDC; Anna Heaton, a spokeswoman for Snyder; and Kristin Moore, a spokeswoman for the city of Flint, declined to comment on the settlement Monday, saying Lawson's orders forbid it until the agreement is formally accepted by the judge.
The full settlement document includes:
- A requirement that the state allocates $87 million to pay for the replacement of lead and galvanized water service lines -- at least $47 million of which must come from sources other than those approved by Congress and President Barack Obama last year.
- A requirement that the state set aside an additional $10 million in reserves from federal funds to pay the cost of service line replacements in the event that the work costs more than expected.
- A commitment from the state to monitor a sampling of homes before and after service line replacements and the appointment of a third party monitor to test a minimum of 100 homes for at least three years.
- Conditions under which the state is permitted to close up to three bottled water distribution sites after May 1. The closings can occur if the 90 percentile lead level of tap water remains under the federal action limit of 15 parts per billion and if the average number of daily bottled water pickups falls below certain levels.
- An agreement for the state to expand the Community Outreach and Resident Education program to provide additional education, installation and maintenance of water filters and replacement cartridges.