Flint residents, civil rights groups file injuction to have water delivered to homes

Flint residents and civil rights groups fighting for better access to clean water filed an injunction demanding bottled water be delivered to residents homes, arguing not everyone can leave to get it on their own.

Activists take the Flint water crisis to federal court but the state and city say what they want isn't necessary and would cost too much money.

"We're not going anywhere," said Pastor Allen Overton of the Concerned Pastors for Social Action. "We're going to be right here until we see some justice for the people in the City of Flint."

Overton is suing the City of Flint and the State of Michigan. He's among the pastors, activists and attorneys demanding that bottled water and filters be delivered to Flint residents, who still can't drink unfiltered water from their taps and have no way to get to water distribution sites to pick up bottled water.

"Here we are, 28 months into the entire crisis -- I've been in it for 20 months and we have to sit in court to beg them to deliver water to the people who don't have it," said Melissa Mays, a Flint resident and activist.

Mays is a plaintiff in the case. Testimony in court Wednesday revealed 18 percent of households in Flint don't have vehicles and half don't have Internet service to get necessary information about water and their health.

"We want to see delivery because there are too many senior citizens, sick, ill people, people without cars, with small children who cannot make it to the pods," Mays said.

Testimony on this day from Michael Hood, who sees it firsthand through running a non-profit called Crossing Water. He and other volunteers go into people's home with bottled water and filters, show them how to install them and educate them.

"We're just seeing an intense amount of deep need -- people who still, without filters -- with unworking filters. We're seeing it every week," Hood said. "We're just a small NGO humanitarian relief agency and we need other people to step up. We need the state to step up."

But the state and city say help is available through 211, the plumber's union and Flint Waterworks. Water quality is improving and delivering five cases of water each week to homes in Flint would cost $9 million, cutting into the state's ability to replace lead service lines.

"The state has enough money to do it. Federal government has enough money to do it, under federal law, people are entitled to clean, safe drinking water," said Mike Steinberg, of the ACLU of Michigan.

"I think that that's a scare tactic -- to say, 'Don't ask us for anything else because we just don't have the money,'" Mays said. "Well find it -- that's your job."