$600M for Flint’s sick

Toxic-water settlement

Michigan will pay $600 million to compensate Flint residents whose health was damaged in the city’s lead water scandal.

The deal will resolve all legal actions against the state for its role in the lead-tainted water crisis that began in 2014 and thrust the city into the national spotlight.

The settlement will be formally announced later this week, an attorney involved in the negotiations told The Associated Press Wednesday.

It will establish a $600 million fund, with residents filing claims for compensation. Individual amounts awarded will depend on how badly each recipient was harmed.

The deal also calls for earmarking 80 percent of the money to people who were under 18 at the time.

The offices of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel have been hammering out the agreement for more than 18 months with lawyers for thousands of Flint residents who sued the state for allowing them to drink contaminated water.

The crisis arose after Flint, under control of a state-appointed emergency manager, switched its water source from Detroit to the Flint River to save money in 2014.

State environmental regulators advised Flint not to apply corrosion controls to the water, which was contaminated with lead from old pipes.

Local and state leaders insisted the water was safe — even as residents complained that it smelled and tasted bad and blamed it for hair loss, rashes and other health concerns. Researchers then found abnormally high levels of lead in the water — as well as in the blood of local children.

Flint residents used bottled water for drinking and other household needs for more than a year. In 2016, researchers said lead was no longer detectable in many homes.

The settlement has to be approved by a federal judge overseeing the case. If approved, it would push state spending on the crisis over $1 billion.

Last year, prosecutors dropped all charges against eight people for their alleged involvement in the scandal, including former Michigan health department director Nick Lyon, who was accused of turning a blind eye for nearly a year.