december 31 – after falling short of a mandate to submit lead level testing results of at least 60 homes, the city asks for an extension to june 30, 2020, to do so. 2020 february 21 – to date 25,042 water service lines have been excavated, resulting in the replacement of 9,516 lead pipes and the verification of 15,526 existing copper pipes. april 16 – an article is published giving details of evidence of corruption and a coverup by governor snyder and his "fixer" rich baird, and stating that the statute of limitations on some of the most serious felony misconduct-in-office charges will expire on april 25, 2020. michigan state authorities deny that a deadline is approaching and say that criminal prosecutions will follow. june 25 – blueconduit releases the flint service line map, which allows users to look at the probability that a particular residence is connected to a lead service line and see the progress of replacement efforts. 2021 jan 13 – michigan attorney general dana nessel announces charges of willful neglect of office against former governor rick snyder. eight other people were also named in the indictment. may 2021 – the michigan strategic fund approved the authorization of up to $700m in private activity financing as part of the "flint water crisis" settlement agreement between state parties and plaintiffs' legal counsel that received preliminary court approval in early 2021. july 21 – an investigative report by jordan chariton and jenn dize published in the intercept found that several key players in the crisis and cover-up had their phones wiped before investigators could examine them. 2022 january 17 – in an article for the guardian, jordan chariton and charlie leduff revealed that the prosecution team putting together a rico case against several government officials for an allegedly fraudulent bond deal, which likely served as the catalyst for the water crisis, was disbanded in 2019 by incoming attorney general dana nessel, who launched a new set of investigations but dropped the rico case. june 28 - the michigan supreme court overturned the state's use of one-man grand juries to issue indictments in the flint water criminal cases. in a unanimous decision, the state supreme court found that a one-judge grand jury can be used to investigate, subpoena and issue arrest warrants but it cannot be used to indict an individual. the flint charges affected by the supreme court's decision include nine manslaughter charges against former state health director nick lyon; two counts of willful neglect of duty against former governor rick snyder; charges of perjury, misconduct in office, obstruction of justice and extortion against former snyder aide richard baird; and a charge of perjury against snyder chief of staff jarrod agen. additional charges included nine counts of manslaughter, misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty against former state chief medical executive dr. eden wells; three counts of misconduct in office against flint emergency manager darnell earley; four counts of misconduct in office against emergency manager gerald ambrose; two counts of willful neglect of duty against former flint public works director howard croft; and two counts of misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty against nancy peeler, the state's director of maternal, infant and early childhood home visits. as of mid-july, the city says it has inspected 27,133 service lines and replaced 10,059 lead and galvanized lines. the city also said that is the “final phase” of lead line replacements that the city hopes to complete by the end of the year. background water tower at the flint water plant some water service lines in flint were installed between 1901 and 1920. as with many other municipalities at the time, all of the service lines from the cast iron water mains to end users' homes were constructed of lead, because it was relatively inexpensive and easy to work. lead from the pipes can leach into the water, especially if certain contaminants are present. however, the water from the detroit water and sewerage department, where flint had obtained its water since 1967, had been treated well enough that the leaching from the lead pipes was at levels considered acceptable by state and federal environmental protection agencies. there are an estimated 43,000 service lines in the city; when the crisis began, these included 3,500 lead lines, 9,000 known galvanized steel lines, and 9,000 unknown service lines. lead exposure across the u.s. has fallen dramatically since the 1980s, but no blood-lead level is considered completely safe. children under age five, and especially infants and unborn children, bear the greatest risk of deleterious and irreversible health outcomes. from 2012 to 2016, the cdc set a "reference level" of 5 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dl), in order to target for case management the 2.5% of young american children with the highest blood-lead levels. at 45 µg/dl, chelation therapy is considered. among the many ways lead can enter a modern american's bloodstream is through lead plumbing. acidic water makes it easier for the lead found in pipes, leaded solder, and brass faucets to dissolve and to enter a home's drinking water. therefore, public water treatment systems are legally required to use control measures to make water less acidic. plumbing that contains lead is often found in buildings constructed in the 1980s and earlier. financial emergency from 2011 to 2015, governor snyder appointed four emergency managers to control flint's finances. after 2015, the city continued to receive financial guidance under the lesser oversight of a receivership transition advisory board. transition to a new water source in 2011, genesee county initiated the switch to the karegnondi water authority (kwa); the kwa would supply water to both genesee county and flint. on march 25, 2013, the purchase of 16 million us gallons (61,000 m3) per day from the kwa was approved by the flint city council. the kwa informed the council that they could dig to lake huron (the new water supply) in 30 months using a bored tunnel. ed kurtz, flint's emergency manager, along with mayor dayne walling and flint city council, approved the action and awaited the state treasurer's approval. following this decision, the detroit water and sewerage department (dwsd) negotiated with flint officials by offering to restructure water payments. flint declined, preferring to use kwa. on april 1, 2013, dwsd demanded that the state deny flint's request, as it would start a water war, which would hurt dwsd. drain commissioner wright of genesee county accused the dwsd of media negotiation and then replied, "it would be unprecedented for the state to force one community to enter into an agreement with another, simply to artificially help one community at the other's expense ... this is exactly what the is arguing ..." on april 15, 2013, state treasurer andy dillon approved the water purchase contract with the kwa. emergency manager kurtz signed the kwa water purchase agreement the following day. on april 17, the dwsd delivered its one-year termination notice after flint rejected their last offer. the dwsd expected that flint would reimburse the investments for the water system that benefited regional customers. flint and genesee county rejected such responsibility but indicated their willingness to purchase pipelines. in april 2014, to save about $5 million in two years, flint started treating water from the flint river instead of purchasing lake huron water from detroit. previously, the flint river was the backup water source. in june 2014, flint's emergency manager darnell earley finalized the sale of a nine-mile (14 km) section of water pipeline to genesee county for $3.9 million. this pipeline fed dwsd water into the county, and after the kwa pipeline was active, would service the eastern part of the county as well. by december 2014, the city had invested $4 million into its water plant. on july 1, 2014, earley gave operational authority to mayor dayne walling over two city departments, including public works. it was later reported that by not adding a corrosion inhibitor, flint was going to save about $140 per day. early water contamination flint river in flint, michigan after the permanent switch to the flint river, city residents began complaining about the color, taste, and odor of their water. in august and september 2014, city officials detected levels of coliform bacteria, so residents were advised to boil their water. mdeq determined that cold weather, aging pipes, and a population decline were the cause of these bacteria. according to stephen busch, an mdeq district supervisor, the city took appropriate measures to limit a recurrence. general motors (gm) made the first complaint about the corrosivity of the water. gm stopped using flint water in october 2014, after reporting that the water was corroding car parts. general motors requested to switch back to the dwsd water source, which was later approved by city officials. prior to august 2014, additional chlorine had been added to eliminate bacteria from the flint river. this is likely the cause of a spike in trihalomethanes, unsafe chlorine byproducts, in one of eight water locations. long-term exposure to these chemicals has been linked to cancer and other diseases. following this test, the mdeq placed flint on violation notice but did not reveal the information to residents until january 2015. the employees of the flint public library declared the water undrinkable after noticing that it was discolored, despite the city's claim that the water was safe. since 2014, the library has provided safe water for the public alongside the state's most prominent bottled water provider. january and february 2015 tests showed that the city water met all health and safety standards. nevertheless, the dwsd offered to reconnect flint, waiving a $4 million connection fee, but was declined by emergency manager jerry ambrose. mdeq officials indicated that there is no "imminent threat to public health," as the nature of the issue was "communicated poorly." return to detroit water in march 2015, flint voted to switch back to the dwsd. this vote was motivated by residential complaints and recommendations from veolia north america to prevent the city from further violating the safe drinking water act. ambrose disagreed with the reintroduction of the detroit water source. ambrose argued, "flint water today is safe by all environmental protection agency and michigan department of environmental quality standards, and the city is working daily to improve its quality." in august 2015, it was found that local organizations observed that high concentrations of chloride caused the water to be orange and that the water contained high levels of lead. the lead levels were caused by the omission of orthophosphate treatments, which led to excessive pipe corrosion. consequently, the three organizations, "... delivered more than 26,000 online petition signatures to mayor dayne walling, demanding the city end its use of the flint river and reconnect to the detroit water system." flint's water supply was switched back to dwsd in october 2015. subsequently, flint started adding additional orthophosphate to the water to rebuild the pipe lining. on october 8, 2015, snyder requested that michigan legislators contribute $6 million of the $12 million for flint to return to lake huron water. the city of flint would pay $2 million, and the flint-based charles stewart mott foundation would pay $4 million. jim ananich, the state senator representing flint, demanded that the state refund the $2 million to the city. ananich also requested further emergency funding from the state and long-term funding to address the effects of the lead contamination. on march 2, 2016, michigan declared that returning to the detroit water system must be approved by the state. when approved, the city was granted an emergency loan of $7 million. on september 27, 2016, flint officials announced that the city will continue to use detroit water until a new stretch of pipeline is constructed and the flint river is tested and treated by the kwa. from august 2015 to november 2016, median water lead levels began to go down again depending on the type of water service pipes each home had. in homes with copper pipes, the median water lead level dropped from 3.0 micrograms per liter (µg/l) to <1 µg/l; galvanized steel service lines dropped from a median water lead level of 7.2 µg/l to 1.9 µg/l, and lead service lines dropped from a median water lead level of 9.9 µg/l to 2.3 µg/l. 1 µg/l is equivalent to