Federal judge finds Flint, Michigan in contempt for failing to meet lead pipe replacement deadlines specified by a 2023 order, nearly a decade after the water crisis began.

A federal judge has found the city of Flint, Michigan, in contempt for failing to meet deadlines to replace old lead pipes, as required by a court order following the city's lead-contaminated water scandal. U.S. District Judge David Lawson ruled that Flint had failed to meet deadlines for pipe removal outlined in his February 2023 order, which originally set a completion date for pipe replacement by early 2020. The city has not yet completed the work, and the judge's ruling comes nearly a decade after the Flint water crisis began and nearly seven years after a settlement was reached in a citizen lawsuit against the city and state officials.