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Flint residents sue EPA for more than $720m

Residents filed the lawsuit in Detroit on Monday

Justin Carissimo

New York

Wednesday 01 February 2017 04:09 GMT

(Rebecca Cook/Getty)

More than 1,700 residents living in the Flint-area in Michigan are suing the the US Environmental Protection Agency for the handling of its man-made water crisis.

Residents and property owners filed a lawsuit on Monday at the US District Court in Michigan, the Associated Press reports. They’re seeking $722.4 million in health and property damages claiming the EPA failed to follow “specific agency mandates and directives.” The suit also claims the EPA did not hold local and state officials accountable so they would take immediate steps to fix the toxic water.

Last week, the city reached its 1,000th day without safe drinking water. It’s been nearly two years since high-levels of lead were discovered in the city’s water supply and the lead content has finally fallen below the federal limit. Still, state authorities are urging residents to refrain from drinking the water and to use filtered water when drinking and cooking.

In pictures: Flint water crisis

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1/10In pictures: Flint water crisis

In pictures: Flint water crisis

Anthony Fordham picks up bottled water from the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan to deliver to a school after elevated lead levels were found in the city's water in Flint

Reuters

In pictures: Flint water crisis

Michigan National Guard Staff Sergeant William Phillips (L) assists a Flint resident with bottled water at a fire station in Flint

Reuters

In pictures: Flint water crisis

Flint residents Arthur Woodson, left, and Tony Palladino Jr. protest the arrival of Flint native and filmmaker Michael Moore as Moore accuses Gov.Rick Snyder of poisoning Flint water during a rally outside of city hall in Flint

AP

In pictures: Flint water crisis

Flint residents pick up bottled water and water filters at a fire station in Flint. Michigan National Guard members were set to arrive in Flint to join door-to-door efforts to distribute bottled water and other supplies to residents coping with the city's crisis over lead-contaminated drinking water

Reuters

In pictures: Flint water crisis

Soldiers from the Michigan Army National Guard Flint prepare to give Flint residents bottled water at a fire station in Flint

Getty Images

In pictures: Flint water crisis

Justin Roberson (L), age 6, of Flint, Michigan and Mychal Adams, age 1, of Flint wait on a stack of bottled water at a rally where the Rev. Jesse Jackson was speaking about about the water crises at the Heavenly Host Baptist Church in Flint

Getty Images

In pictures: Flint water crisis

A man sits next to a stack of bottled water at the Heavenly Host Baptist Church in Flint

2016 Getty Images

In pictures: Flint water crisis

The top of a water tower is seen at the Flint Water Plant. President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Michigan and ordered federal aid to be used to help state and local response efforts to an area affected by contaminated water

Reuters

In pictures: Flint water crisis

Rosie Wright, center, rallies with the crowd over Flint's water crisis in Ann Arbor, Michigan

AP

In pictures: Flint water crisis

Rick Catherman participates in a rally around Flint's water crisis in Ann Arbor, Michigan

AP

“It is nowhere near the end of the story,” Mona Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician who helped expose the lead crisis, recently told the Washington Post, adding the city still needs to replace thousands of lead pipes that could take years to address.

“Once those lead pipes are replaced,” she added, “then hopefully the people of Flint will regain the trust that has been shattered in their drinking water.”