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(MLive file photo)
FLINT, MI -- The state says its testing in May showed Flint water has met federal lead requirements for the ninth month in a row.
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality announced the results in a news release Friday, June 9, and said the city "appears to be on track" to meet federal requirements during a six-month monitoring period that ends this month.
If Flint tap water tests under the federal threshold for lead during the first six months of 2017, the state can close all but two of its bottled water distribution sites until Sept. 1, according to the terms of a settlement reached earlier this year between the state, the city, the American Civil Liberties Union and other parties.
The state will have no obligation to operate any bottled water site after Sept. 1 if water continues to test at May's lead level.
The state's May sampling -- part of its extended sentinel site testing program -- showed 90 percent of Tier I samples at or below 6 parts per billion of lead with 93.1 percent of the samples at or below 15 ppb.
A Tier I site is a home that's considered to be at higher risk for elevated lead because of the presence of a lead service line or other factors.
The federal threshold for lead requires at least 90 percent of tests to register at or below 15 ppb.
The DEQ said results of the current LCR six-month monitoring period for Flint ends June 30 and results will be announced in mid-July.