Flint water system marks ninth year of compliance with state's strict lead rules

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) today announced that the City of Flint's water system has entered its ninth consecutive year of compliance with state and federal standards for lead in drinking water. 

The latest six-month monitoring period from Jan. 1 through June 30 resulted in a 90th percentile calculation of 3 parts per billion (ppb) for lead. This is the same result as the previous six-month monitoring period and the second-lowest lead reading in the past nine years.  

Since July 2016, Flint's water system has tested below action levels of the federal Lead and Copper Rule including Michigan’s tighter 12 ppb standard that went into effect in 2025.  The federal standard remains at 15 ppb. 

The 90th percentile calculation of 3 ppb means 90 percent of the test results used in the calculation came in at or below 3 ppb. 

“This latest lead result is yet another example of the progress Flint has made in modernizing its water distribution system,” said Eric Oswald, director of EGLE’s Drinking Water and Environmental Health Division. “Nevertheless, we continue to see lead exceedances at properties like churches and businesses that don’t circulate or flush their interior plumbing regularly. It remains important that people keep water circulating to reduce long-term water contact with older interior plumbing that can contain lead.”  

The latest test results were calculated from drinking water samples drawn from 61 homes and businesses known to have lead service lines. 54 of these sites were single-family homes and the other 7 were businesses or multi-family residences. As the vast majority of single-family residential (Tier 1) sites have had their lead service lines replaced and no longer meet the criteria for inclusion in the 90th percentile, more multi-family and non-residential (Tier 2) sites have been added to the city's sampling pool. 

Lead service line update 

In July the City of Flint and plaintiffs in the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)/Concerned Pastors Settlement Agreement confirmed that all lead service lines in the city covered by the agreement had been replaced.  

According to the NRDC status report filed with the U.S. Eastern District Court, the final lead lines out of a total of nearly 11,000 lines identified in the agreement were replaced by July of 2025. More than 28,000 properties were excavated and checked for lead pipes during the replacement effort. 

In addition to the completion of the replacement of the lead lines, the state in May of 2024 filed a motion to assist the city in the final phase of restoration work at roughly 1,800 homes that were covered under the agreement. The state committed an additional $4,754,400 for yard and road restoration, and the final phase of non-residential service line replacement work. This was in addition to $97 million the state had already spent on lead service line replacement and restorations in the city.  

With roughly 98 percent of the residential lead service lines in the city replaced, EGLE continues to work with the city to replace the remaining Tier 1 and 2 service lines that had either opted out of the work performed under the previous settlement agreement or were discovered during the city’s service line inventory. Contractors are currently working to address these remaining lines. 

Flint’s testing results can be found by visiting the State’s Michigan.gov/FlintWater. Additional information about Michigan’s new testing requirements and results state-wide can be found at Michigan.gov/MiLeadSafe.