To protect public health, the City of Flint, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy continue to recommend that Flint residents use faucet filters that are certified to remove lead until residential lead service line replacement is completed citywide, emphasizing that bottled water has no health benefits over filtered tap water.
Free water filter units and replacement cartridges are available for Flint residents at Flint City Hall, Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Residents can also pick up free water testing kits at the same location.
City of Flint Public Health Navigators are available to deliver water filters, replacement cartridges, and test kits to residents who are unable to pick them up in person. Residents can call the Office of Public Health at (810) 410-2020 to request home delivery.
Following notification to the Flint community in June 2022, BlueTriton Brands, Inc. has ended bottled water donation in the City of Flint as of Dec. 31, 2022, after providing weekly donations of 100,000 bottles of water since 2018. In recent months, these donations served approximately 3,000 people per week.
Since July 2016, the City of Flint’s water system has met both state and federal standards for lead in drinking water for 12 consecutive monitoring periods. Sampling rounds are completed every six months. Testing results continue to show that water quality in the City of Flint remains stable and below federal action levels. Flint’s January-June 2022 compliance sampling result of 10 parts per billion (ppb) is well below the federal action level of 15 ppb. Sampling targets homes and businesses with lead service lines. Sampling has been completed for July-December 2022, and the next compliance result will be available to the public in the next few weeks.
The Flint Filter Study indicates that distributed Brita and Pur point-of-use faucet filters effectively remove lead when installed and maintained properly. The use of filtered water for cooking and drinking protects all populations, including pregnant women and children, from exposure to lead-contaminated water. On April 7, 2018, following the MDEQ release of water quality data, the State of Michigan announced that it would discontinue state-funded bottled water for Flint residents, expressing confidence in the safety of filtered tap water.
The Genesee County Medical Society has withdrawn its March 2019 statement about the potential for bacterial contamination of filters. There is no evidence of bacterial growth in properly maintained faucet filters. Information about installing, cleaning, and changing filter cartridges is available at the State of Michigan’s Flint Water Resources webpage.
The City of Flint encourages medically vulnerable residents to speak with their doctors about potential risk factors of consuming filtered tap water or bottled water for their individual health.
Under the settlement agreement with NRDC/Concerned Pastors, the State of Michigan is required to fund, and the City of Flint is required to distribute water filters until one year after the lead service line replacement project is complete. The deadline for completion is August 1, 2023.
City of Flint contractors are continuing to excavate and replace lead service lines throughout the winter months, as weather allows. Residents who have not yet had their water service lines checked and replaced are encouraged to submit consent forms and schedule service. This service is free for all Flint residents. To sign up, please visit the City’s Get The Lead Out webpage.
