audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - The water crisis in Flint, the Michigan city grappling with toxic lead contamination in its drinking water following a cost-saving measure, is now getting high-level attention from the state's top legal official. The damage stems from a decision two years ago by the state, which had taken over the city's budget amid a financial emergency, to save money by switching Flint's water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Department of Environmental Quality Director Dan Wyant resigned in December after acknowledging that the DEQ failed to require the addition of needed corrosion-control chemicals to the corrosive Flint River water. As a result, lead leached from pipes, joints and fixtures, contaminating the drinking water for an unknown number of Flint households. Lead causes permanent brain damage in children, as well as other health problems. For months, state officials downplayed reports of lead in the water and a spike in the lead levels in the blood of Flint children before acknowledging a problem Oct. 1. Since then, Gov. Rick Snyder has faced repeated questions about when he first knew there was too much lead in Flint's drinking water. The FBI is now investigating the contamination of Flint's drinking water, a man-made public health catastrophe.
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Jan. 21, 2015 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - Flint resident GLADYES WILLIAMSON-BUNNELL holds a sample of water that came from her home she saved from August 2014 after Flint switched from getting its water from Detroit to using the Flint River water as a drinking source while officials spoke to a crowd about the water quality issues at a town hall meeting in the Flint City Hall dome on Wednesday.
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Jan. 19, 2016 - Lansing, Michigan, U.S. - SHAKYA PEA, 33, of Flint holds up a sign that says Flint Lives Matter, during a protest in front of the state capitol. Pea says she came down on a bus with other young business owners from Flint.
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Jan. 19, 2016 - Lansing, Michigan, U.S. - Governor RICK SNYDER apologizes Tuesday during his State of the State speech about the Flint water crisis at the state Capitol Building in Lansing.
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Jan. 19, 2016 - Lansing, Michigan, U.S. - Protestors bang on the windows and doors while screaming against Snyder before Governor Rick Snyder addresses the Flint water crisis during his State of the State speech on Tuesday at the state Capitol Building.
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Jan. 21, 2015 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - LEEANNE WALTERS, 36, of Flint, shows water samples from her home to Flint's new emergency manager JERRY AMBROSE after city and state officials spoke during a forum discussing growing health concerns about the drinking water being raised by Flint residents at the Flint City Hall dome.
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Jan. 14, 2016 - Lansing, Michigan, U.S. - Flint resident GLADYES WILLIAMSON (center) shouts with over one hundred residents while protesting against Governor Rick Snyder for his role in the Flint water crisis at the state capitol building.
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Jan. 13, 2016 - Michigan, Michigan, U.S. - CARL HUNTERE, 48, of Flint, walks home through the snow from the North End Soup Kitchen at 735 E. Stewart Ave. where he received a case of free bottled water.
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Jan. 12, 2016 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - SINCERE SMITH, 2, of Flint is one of three children living with his single mom Ariana Hawk, 25. He is suffering from severe skin rash issues his mother believes are due to bathing in the contaminated Flint water. His mom no longer bathes him in the tap water. He is on medication to help with this extreme eczema. His skin is raised, itchy and even a bit painful. He is constantly uncomfortable. The discomfort causes his entire family to stress when he is stressed. The sight of water often causes the 2-year-old to break down or retreat to himself. His mom now bathes him with bottled water. Not only is this inconvenient, it is quite costly. She says she is spending at least 7 dollars a week on just water for her family. She cannot afford to have bills likes this.
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Oct. 1, 2015 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - LEE ANNE WALTERS, of Flint, pours gallons of bottled water into a bucket and pan to warm up for her two twin sons to take a weekly bath as her son GAVIN WALTERS 4, looks on on. Walters uses 8-10 gallons of bottled water to avoid her children's exposure to the Flint drinking water that contains high levels of lead since the city switched from getting their water from Detroit to use water from the Flint River. 'My family will never drink from a tap again. Never ever it's too scary,' Walters said.
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Oct. 1, 2015 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - DEWAYNE FORNEY, of Flint, looks on while holding his daughter VANESSA FORNEY as ANJHE' WALKER (center), 14, and ESTELLA WALKER (left) mix baby formula using bottled water in the parking lot of a restaurant in downtown Flint on Thursday for the children Vanessa and Dewayne Forney Jr.
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Oct. 8, 2015 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - Freeman Elementary School 6th graders KASHIF NANCE (left) and JOHN ORR push a cart loaded with bottle water donated to their school while distributing the water to classes on Thursday at the Flint school. Freeman had a water sample tested at 101 parts per billion for lead exceeding the 15 parts per billion standard.
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Oct. 8, 2015 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - A man is seen walking along a street over the Flint River near the Hamilton Dam in downtown Flint. Governor Rick Snyder announced supporting the city of Flint switching back to the Detroit water system from using the Flint River during a press conference in Flint.
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Oct. 2, 2015 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - MONA HANNA-ATTISHA, MD, MPH program director for the pediatric residency at the Hurley Children's Hospital at Hurley Medical Center is seen in her office at Hurley Medical Center. Dr. Hanna-Attisha's research showed that the percentage of children with elevated blood-lead levels in some Flint zip codes nearly doubled since the city began to draw its water from the Flint River.
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Oct. 6, 2015 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - Flint residents are shown how to attach their free water filters to their faucets by Home Depot workers at the Genesee County Community Action Resource Department on Lippincott that state of Michigan is providing to residents with partnership from the Michigan Department of Health Human Services and the Genesee County Community Action Resource Department. The filter distribution is part of Governor Snyder's water action plan for the city since high levels of lead have been found in the drinking water that comes from the Flint River.
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Jan. 23, 2016 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - MYCAL ANDERSON, 9, of Flint, sheds a tear while being afraid to have a blood sample taken to be tested for lead at the Masonic Temple in downtown Flint. The free lead level testing event for children and adults was sponsored by The Sanders Law Firm to help Flint residents dealing with the Flint water crisis to find out how they've been effected.
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Jan. 23, 2016 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - MIKE HENRY Sr. of Grand Blanc holds his grandson KAIDEN OLIVARES, 3, as he screams while giving a blood sample to be tested for lead at the Masonic Temple in downtown Flint. 'I'm upset I had to do that to him,' Henry Sr. said who moved with his family outside of the city to Grand Blanc. 'My grandson has had rashes. He's been in the hospital. We have a concern now about the hospital's water. My daughter has hair loss in the past that we've had no clue. We're just trying to find out if maybe that's it. Our whole family resides in Flint. We've ate in Flint. We've drank water in Flint. We've been in Flint restaurants so we have high concern.'
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Jan. 21, 2016 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - A sign asking people to limit picking up one case of bottled water per day at Flint Fire Station 3 on Thursday. The city has a an ongoing drinking water contamination crisis.
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Jan. 18, 2016 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - US Army National Guard 125th Infantry Battalion members from Michigan hand out water at Flint Fire Department Station 1 to help residents dealing with lead in their drinking water during the Flint water crisis.
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Jan. 21, 2016 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - National Guard pfc KYLE HOLMES, right, hands over a water filter to KATHRYN BROWN, 57, who says that she even gives her cat bottled water. The National Guard and Michigan State Police goes door to door delivering bottled water and water filters to residents.
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Jan. 21, 2016 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - Flint resident ROBERT JACKSON, 54, shows of some marks left on his arm that he believes are the result of drinking contaminated Flint tap water at Flint Fire Station 3. ''I've seen the mayor drinking it so I figured it was alright,'' says Jackson about Flint's tap water. In the Summer of 2015 Jackson started getting strong red burning rashes on his arm and later decided to stop drinking the water. The rashes went down but he is left with some marks on his arm.
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Jan. 30, 2016 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - VERONICA KELLEY, 64, lives on the west side of Flint where they say the new homes are and holds up a pipe removed from her home showing corrosion, during a sharing podium for Flint residents about their legal rights in the the Flint water crisis at Quinn Chapel AME church.
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Jan. 30, 2016 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - A pipe VERONICA KELLEY, of Flint, removed from her home showing corrosion, seen during a sharing podium for Flint residents about their legal rights in the the Flint water crisis at Quinn Chapel AME church.
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Jan. 14, 2016 - Lansing, MichiganI, U.S. - NANCY BURGHER (right) of Flint holds a bottle filled with filtered City of Flint tap water from her home she said that tested at 11ppb for lead while protesting in the lobby of the George W. Romney State Office Building on Thursday against Governor Rick Snyder for his role in the Flint water crisis.
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Feb. 1, 2016 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - Flint residents raise their arms while praying during a town hall meeting about the Flint water crisis on Monday at Flint Trinity Missionary Baptist Church.
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Feb. 1, 2016 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - RUSSELL SIMMONS, Def Jam founder/mogul, philanthropist and business owner delivers cases of water to his RushCard customers. He says this will not be the last time to visit Flint to help the community.
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Jan. 13, 2016 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - SINCERE SMITH 2, of Flint is one of three children living with his single mom Ariana Hawk, 25. He is suffering from severe skin rash issues. His mother says they are due to bathing in the contaminated Flint water. His mom no longer bathes him in the tap water. He is on medication to help with this extreme eczema. His skin is raised, itchy and even a bit painful. He is constantly uncomfortable. His mom now bathes him with bottled water. Not only is this inconvenient, it is quite costly. She says she is spending at least 7 dollars a week on just water for her family.
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Feb. 1, 2016 - Flint, Michigan, U.S. - NAKEYJA CADE, 24, Flint resident and mother of three is emotional as she speaks with RUSSELL SIMMONS Def Jam Mogul, philanthropist and founder of RushCard after he brings her family cases of water as a token of helping since she is a RushCard customer. Her filter she has changed a few times she explains to him.
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