WATERSHED MOMENT

Victims of Flint’s Lead Pipes Will Receive $626 Million From the State

A judge approved the mammoth settlement Wednesday.

A federal judge in Michigan approved a $626 million settlement between Michigan and the victims of Flint, Michigan’s lead pipes Wednesday. The majority of the settlement—around 80 percent—is reserved for those who drank water contaminated by the pipes before they turned 18. The city, many of its residents Black and living below the poverty line, endured an explosion of lead poisoning in 2014 and 2015 along with an outbreak of Legionnaires disease that killed at least a dozen. A federal civil rights probe of officials actions said officials had neglected the pipes as part of a pattern of racist policies, and the governor of the state at the time, Rick Snyder, has been charged with willful neglect for his conduct during the crisis.