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Flint City Council Seeks More Time To Choose Water Source

10.23.17 | 12:11 pm

Shawn Jones, 42, right, and Tony Price, 54, distribute bottled water at a point of distribution (POD) at Saint Mark Missionary Baptist Church on Friday, August 11, 2017, in Flint's Second Ward. The POD closes today. Jones, who's been driving pallets of water to the site since November, said he hasn't seen demand slacken. He worries that as PODs close in Flint over the next month, city residents will crowd those that remain open. "I don't see this ending," he said. "It's going to be hectic." Asserting that Flint's water is now generally safe to drink, state and city officials have begun to reduce the number of bottled water points of distribution, or PODs, in the city. The closures begin today with two sites, one in the Second Ward and another in the Third. On September 5, three more will close, in the Fifth, Seventh and Eighth wards respectively. A total of four PODs, located in the First, Fourth, Sixth and Ninth wards, are slated to remain open indefinitely. Terray Sylvester | MLive.com — Shawn Jones, 42, right, and Tony Price, 54, distribute bottled water at a point of distribution (POD) at Saint Mark Missionary Baptist Church on Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Flint', Mich. The POD closes today. Jones, wh... Shawn Jones, 42, right, and Tony Price, 54, distribute bottled water at a point of distribution (POD) at Saint Mark Missionary Baptist Church on Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Flint', Mich. The POD closes today. Jones, who's been driving pallets of water to the site since November, said he hasn't seen demand slacken. He worries that as PODs close in Flint over the next month, city residents will crowd those that remain open.(Terray Sylveste /The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP) MORE LESS

FLINT, Mich. (AP) — The City Council in Flint, Michigan, is asking a federal judge for more time to choose a long-term source of drinking water in the wake of the city’s lead-tainted water crisis.

The request was made in a Sunday court filing. Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration sued Flint to force the council to approve a 30-year deal with the Great Lakes Water Authority, a regional water agency, which has been serving the city since a lead disaster was declared in fall 2015.

Mayor Karen Weaver agrees with the plan, but the council hasn’t been persuaded. U.S. District Judge David Lawson last week set a Monday deadline.

Managers appointed by Snyder provided Flint with water from the Flint River in 2014. The corrosive water wasn’t properly treated, and lead leached from old plumbing.

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Flint City Council Seeks More Time To Choose Water Source

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