Cars formed long lines at water distribution centers in Flint, Michigan, after Governor Rick Snyder (R) announced on Friday that the state will no longer supply free water bottles to Flint residents.
This decision was accompanied by a government report stating that, for nearly two years, "[Lead and Copper Rule] data and thousands of other tests" have shown that Flint’s water tests the same as—and in some cases better than—similar cities across the state.
According to that same report, "state taxpayers have provided more than $350 million to Flint, in addition to the $100 million from the federal government" in order to improve water quality, replace pipes, and support other forms of recovery for Flint residents.
Some officials criticized Snyder’s move, in part because the city is still recovering from long-standing problems with water that hit crisis levels in 2014 when Flint residents found dangerous levels of lead in their tap water.
And although Flint’s water supply meets federal standards, water can still pick up lead if it flows through the thousands of pipes that have not yet been replaced in the city.
Michigan State Representative Sheldon Neeley (D) denounced Snyder’s decision.
"Governor Snyder has failed to address the psychological trauma that his administration put the people of Flint through," he said in a statement.
"The fact is, the people of Flint don’t trust the Snyder administration or the science they pay for."

FLINT, Mich. (WNDU) – The Friday announcement from the state of Michigan stating that the state will stop sending bottled water to Flint sent people to distribution centers over the weekend, fearing the bottled water supply will run dry.
The city’s tap water was contaminated with lead after the source switched from Detroit to the Flint River in 2014.
It was a cost-cutting move while the city was under state financial management.
State leaders say testing now shows lead levels are well below lead action levels and have been for nearly two years.
Flint residents are pushing back, insisting it’s just too soon to cut off the bottled water supply.
"This water is not fixed,” said resident L. W. Miller, “They’re saying it is, but it’s not if they’re saying that the levels are high in certain schools, and they’re still want to shut it [the school] down."
"I don’t know what I’m going to do, and this was the only thing that could at least help, you know?” said resident Maria Garland.
“With the bottled water, and then they’re taking it away."
Residents say many pipes still need to be replaced and that the corrosive river water wasn’t properly treated, allowing lead from those pipes to seep into the city’s drinking water.

Rick Snyder for an extension of the free bottled water to her city after the Republican governor on Friday ended the program.
Snyder spokeswoman Anna Heaton said Tuesday the governor would meet with Weaver “when his schedule allows.” The state said it plans to close four remaining water bottle distribution centers when supplies are exhausted — which is expected to be this week — following 21 months of state testing that showed lead water levels that are within federal standards.
Weaver said she worries that lead “particulates can get shaken loose” and seep into the water system during construction and water service line replacement efforts.
Lead leached from the city’s aging water lines after Flint switched to corrosive Flint River water in 2014 and the state’s environmental regulators failed to insist on adding anti-corrosion chemicals to the drinking water.
“I think it was a bad decision to cut it abruptly like that, and once the water is gone it’s gone,” she said.
The governor is done (next year).
He could have done it until he’s out of office.” Michigan Department of Environmental Quality spokeswoman Tiffany Brown said mid-day Tuesday that all Flint water stations still had bottled water.
“The state is not leaving Flint, it is continuing to pour resources into the city to help it move forward.” The school lead testing has been underway, Weaver said.
“I understand their apprehension,” Meekhof said of Flint residents, “but I think if they’ve got scientific evidence that the water is meeting the quality standard, that’s a good thing.” He added: “I’d go there and drink the water.” But Attorney General Bill Schuette said in a statement “it seems to me that bottled water distribution in Flint should continue until lead pipes have been replaced and trust in government has been restored.” Schuette, a Republican who is running for governor, is prosecuting several state officials criminally for the Flint crisis and 2014-2015 Legionnaires’ disease outbreak.
“I have more information than probably anybody in Flint, and I don’t trust these people that lied to me to my face,” Ananich said of state regulators and officials who had initially downplayed concerns of Flint water quality.

By Paul Egan The state announced Friday that the health of Flint’s drinking water has been restored and state distribution of free bottled water in the city is ending, likely within a few days.
The announcement drew immediate outrage from residents who say the water is still not safe to drink, four years after it became contaminated with lead as a result of errors made by the state Department of Environmental Quality and other agencies.
Flint Gets Some Control Back Over Its Own Finances And a run on remaining free bottled water was under way in Flint on Friday afternoon, with long lines of vehicles forming outside depots that were scheduled to close at 6 p.m. "It’s too quick," said Flint activist Melissa Mays of the group Water You Fighting For.
Rick Snyder’s office said in a news release.
Free water filters and replacement cartridges will remain available at City Hall for residents who want or need them, such as for those who are close to lead water line replacement work that could result in short-term spikes of lead into the water, the state said.
The state said Flint’s water has tested below federal "action levels" for lead for nearly two years, and for four consecutive six-month monitoring periods.
"This is not what I want for our city and I stand by my position that free bottled water should be provided to the people of Flint until the last-known lead-tainted pipe has been replaced," Weaver said in the letter.
Mays was a party to a federal court settlement that provided for an end to bottled water distribution once test results consistently showed lower lead levels, but Mays said the state should be listening to residents’ ongoing concerns about lead, plus other forms of contamination, such as bacterial.
Nonprofit groups have also been distributing free bottled water at Flint churches, and Mays said she expects and hopes that will continue.
Flint switched back to Detroit water in October 2015, but some risk remained because of damage to the city’s water distribution infrastructure.

Officials in Flint, Michigan, are criticizing the state for ending its bottled water distribution program as the city continues to recover from a lead-contaminated water crisis.
Rick Snyder said Friday the state would stop supplying free bottled water to Flint residents, saying water quality there had “tested below action levels of the federal Lead and Copper Rule for nearly two years.” The move sparked swift backlash from the city’s mayor, Karen Weaver, who said the city is still recovering from the crisis that left residents with dangerous levels of lead in their tap water.
“We did not cause the manmade water disaster,” Weaver, a Democrat, said, “therefore adequate resources should continue being provided until the problem is fixed and all the lead and galvanized pipes have been replaced.” Weaver said the state should supply free bottled water until all the city’s lead pipes are replaced.
Weaver, who said she heard about the decision only moments before it was made public, said she planned to contact the governor “to express the insensitivity of the decision” and to make him aware of the city’s “additional needs.” Flint’s chief public health adviser Pamela Pugh echoed the mayor’s concerns.
“We have not received clear steps as to how the remaining lead in Flint schools will be remediated or how ongoing monitoring will continue for our most vulnerable populations,” Pugh said in a statement.
“Additionally, the medical community has continuously raised questions as to how special populations, including nursing and bottle-feeding mothers, will receive bottled water while massive pipe replacement work is ongoing.
“There are still questions that remain,” Pugh added.
“We have worked diligently to restore the water quality & scientific data now proves the water system is stable and the need for bottled water has ended.” Snyder said “ensuring the quality of the water in Flint and helping the people and the city move forward” is a top priority for him and his team, but State Sen. Jim Ananich, a Democrat from Flint, said he questions the administration’s honesty.
“It’s beyond belief that the governor expects the folks in Flint to trust the government now, when they lied to our faces about lead in our water just a few years ago,” Ananich said in a statement.
“We won’t feel safe drinking our water until every bad pipe is replaced, and the administration that caused this disaster needs to make sure bottled water stays available until that happens.”

Governor Rick Snyder announced this week the state’s water bottle supply in Flint is set to end.
The state’s water bottle supply in Flint is set to end and Martin isn’t happy about it.
Gov.
Snyder announced the news Friday, April 6, citing that the city’s water quality tested below or at action levels of the lead and copper rule for nearly two years.
"It’s just not right they should have gave us a fair warning, maybe even a month and advance," Martin said.
It’s just a lot especially when Flint is already bad.
The four distribution sites, or PODs, will be close and access and functional needs deliveries will end once the current supply is spent.
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Michigan will stop providing free bottled water to the city of Flint, Gov.
But Michigan officials said lead levels in the water there have not exceeded federal limits for about two years, so the state was closing the four remaining distribution centers where residents have been picking up cases of free water since January 2016.
“We have worked diligently to restore the water quality and the scientific data now proves the water system is stable and the need for bottled water has ended,” Mr. Snyder, a Republican, said in a statement on Friday.
Flint’s mayor, Karen Weaver, said she was informed of the decision only moments before it was made public.
Lines of cars formed outside distribution points on Friday as residents rushed to load up on the last of the free bottles.
Flint is working with contractors to replace all of the affected lines by 2020.
An estimated 12,000 could remain.
“The funding is helping with water quality improvements, pipe replacement, health care, nutritional food distribution, educational resources, job training and creation, and more.” Flint has struggled with its water crisis since 2014, when state-appointed officials began using the Flint River, rather than the more expensive Detroit water system, as a source for tap water that was not properly treated before it reached residents’ homes.
One study published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2016 found that the percentage of Flint children with elevated levels of lead in their blood doubled after the switch, which has also been linked to 12 fatal cases of Legionnaires’ disease.
The city switched back to the Detroit water system in 2015, and the crisis resulted in felony charges against emergency managers who had been appointed by Mr. Snyder to help run the city.

LANSING, Mich. (WNEM/CNN) — Governor Rick Snyder declared that he was ending bottled water services for the people of Flint after the city’s water quality tested below or at action levels of the Lead and Copper Rule for nearly two years.
In a press release from the Governor’s office, it said the preliminary data for the first half of the current 6-month monitoring period shows that 90 percent of the high-risk samples are at or below 4 parts per billion (PPB).
“I have said all along that ensuring the quality of the water in Flint and helping the people and the city move forward were a top priority for me and my team.
The Governor’s office said taxpayers have provided more than $350 million to Flint, with an additional $100 million from the federal government.
People lined up at the distribution centers on Friday for bottled water, because once the bottles run out, that’s it.
The state said the water in Flint homes is safe to drink, but a lot of residents don’t trust it.
"That’s why I come get water.
Congressman Dan Kildee issued this statement: "The state should provide Flint families with bottled water until all of the lead service lines have been replaced.
Flint families rightfully still do not trust state government, who created this crisis and lied to our community about the safety of the water.
Continuing to provide bottled water service until all of the lead pipes are replaced will give peace of mind to residents and help restore Flint’s trust in government.

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Michigan officials say the tap water in Flint, Michigan, is safe, leading the governor’s office to stop distributing free bottled water.
State testing has shown Flint’s water supply has passed federal standards for nearly two years.
Officials say there is less than a week’s worth of bottled water left to distribute, but the supply might dwindle faster as residents react to the news.
Local officials aren’t happy with the decision; they say the trust between Flint residents and the state has yet to be repaired, and that there is still concern about existing lead pipes in the city.
See Also: Parkland student journalist honor fallen with commemorative newspaper Flint’s water supply was switched from Lake Huron to the Flint River in 2014.
But a lack of proper water treatment caused dangerous levels of lead to get into the water.
The supply was switched back in 2015, but the damage was done.
Residents, including children, had toxic amounts of lead in their blood.

The state of Michigan will no longer supply free bottled water to Flint, the city once plagued with lead-tainted drinking water in a crisis that drew national attention, officials said on Friday.
For nearly two years, tests have shown that Flint’s water is the same or better than similar cities across the state, a statement from Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s office said.
"Since Flint’s water is now well within the standards set by the federal government, we will now focus even more of our efforts on continuing with the health, education and economic development assistance needed to help move Flint forward."
Michigan State Representative Sheldon Neeley, a Democrat whose district includes most of Flint, a predominantly black city of about 100,000, denounced the decision to end free bottled water, calling it cruel.
"The people of Flint deserve better," NRDC health director Erik Olson said.
Officials from the city of Flint did not respond to requests for comment.
Flint switched its public water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River in a cost-cutting move in April 2014.
The polluted river water caused lead to leach from pipes.
The water crisis prompted dozens of lawsuits and criminal charges against former government officials.
In June 2017, six current and former state and city officials were charged for their roles in the crisis, which was linked to a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak that caused at least 12 deaths.