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Flint declared financial state of emergency
Poverty-stricken Flint is declared to be in a financial state of emergency. The state of Michigan takes over the budgetary control and the governor appoints an emergency financial manager to handle Flint. He decided to stop paying Detroit for water from Lake Huron and start using Flint River water, which is notoriously filthy. A study found that this water was not drinkable but it was ignored. -
State switches to Flint River for water supply
The state finally switches to the Flint River water, meant to be a temporary solution until the state ran a pipeline to Huron. -
Brown water starts appearing
Many now have brown water and are complaining about the taste and the smell. City and state officials tell residents that the water is fine to drink. -
Decline offer to reconnect to original water supply
The Detroit Water and Sewage Department offers to waive the $4 million connection fee and reconnect Flint to its water supply, but the emergency manager declines their offer, choosing not to pay the $1 million fee per month. -
EPA Memo leaked showing child with lead poisoning
An internal EPA memo is leaked. It shows levels of lead in one woman’s home so high that it’s enough to give her son lead poisoning. A regional EPA administrator tells the mayor that “It would be premature to draw any conclusions” based on this memo. -
Virginia Tech starts investigation.
A group of researchers from Virginia Tech start their own investigation of the water in Flint homes. They publicly share their findings of elevated levels of lead. -
Lead levels in children found doubled and tripled
Pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha finds lead levels in children living in certain areas doubled and even tripled. -
Governor plans to reconnect to original water supply, a little too late
The governor declares a plan to reconnect Flint to the Detroit water supply and it switches back to Lake Huron. However, the damage is already done to the lead pipes and Virginia Tech researchers continue to find lead in the tap water. The director of the Department of Environmental Quality, Dan Wyant, admits the mistake of not adding the anti-corrosion agent to the water. -
Class action lawsuit was filed against Flint
Residents file a federal class-action lawsuit against the city of Flint, the state of Michigan, the governor, Wyant, and others for the lead in their tap water as a result of not treating the water, which was a violation of federal law. -
Director of DEQ resignes
Wyant resigns as the director of Department of Environmental quality -
Governor apologizes and asks for federal help
Governor Snyder requests assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Michigan National Guard to help with water distribution.He publicly apologizes and asks legislators for $28 million in aid. A Flint hospital reports Legionnaire's disease bacteria in its water. The state agrees to give $28 million, $4 million of which will go to treatment of children affected by lead, and the rest going towards aid for the city. -
EPA Administrator resignes, additional documents released.
Regional EPA administrator for Flint resigns. The Flint mayor says it will cost $55 million to remove the lead pipes. There are signs of improvement in the lead levels of the tap water. Documents are released that show that the governor’s staff was warned to not call the drinking water safe because of an increase in Legionnaires disease by a DEQ official almost an entire year before governor Snyder publicly disclosed the emergency. -
Water treatment plant supervisor charged, additional lawsuits emerge
Supervisor of Flint’s water treatment plant, Mike Glasgow, is charged with tampering with evidence and willful neglect of duty as a public officer. 514 residents file a class-action lawsuit for $229 million from the EPA. -
Water plant officials and former emergency managers charged
Two water plant officials and two former Flint emergency managers are charged with felonies for “misleading the state’s Treasury Department into letting the city borrow millions of dollars to participate in a pipeline project that required it to temporarily switch to Flint River water. -
Levels of lead return to within Michigan standards
Lead levels in the city’s water have lowered to within standards according to the Michigan DEQ.
