Melissa Mays Flint water crisis

Flint resident Melissa Mays gasps as Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha reveals test results showing a 1.9 percent increase of lead in Flint children under 5 years old as doctors call for a public health advisory in relation to Flint's water woes, urging city residents in high risk groups -- which include infants on formula and pregnant mothers -- not to consume or use the tap water during a press conference Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015 at Hurley Medical Center in Flint. Jake May | MLive.com

(Jake May | MLive.com)

FLINT, MI - An interview with Flint resident Melissa Mays, one of the key figures in uncovering the city's water issues with lead, is the top spot under the Flint water crisis hashtag on reddit.

, a Flint resident, founder of the Water You Fighting For? Group, and part of a class-action lawsuit is interviewed in a nearly four-minute long video on the website.

In the video on reddit, where Flint Journal reporter Ron Fonger recently held an online chat about the ongoing crisis, Mays discussed topics including water rates, shutoffs, and efforts being made by city residents to get relief on bills.

"(There's) a pause on shutoffs, but we're still getting water bills," she told the interviewer, with a group that traveled to Flint from Washington, D.C. to donate water. "When this pause is lifted, we're all going to owe all this money."

Water shutoffs have been suspended in the Flint, but City Administrator Natasha Henderson said Monday night during a Flint council meeting that shutoffs may resume if funding is not found to help offset the revenue loss.

Some relief may be on the way for bills, with Gov. Rick Snyder proposing $30 million as part of the 2016-17 fiscal year budget to pay for water bills, not including sewer costs, dating back to April 2014 with the number of residents to be determined in conversations with the city.

But Henderson said the city would need at least $60 million to cover the bills for residential water customers.

Mays says in the video "We're trying to get it wiped out" of bills, but she added "So far, no help, and many of us are still buying our own water because getting down to the fire station is almost difficult, if not impossible" and some areas of the city don't have the resource sites or supermarkets.

Mays said there was one ultimate solution to the issue.

"Replacing the pipes. The pipes were damaged by the caustic, untreated Flint River water," she said. "That's the only thing that's going to fix this is replacing the torn-up pipes or they are just going to keep leaching the heavy metals into the water."

Flint Mayor Karen Weaver unveiled a $55 million plan on Tuesday that could begin replacement of lead service lines, modeled after a program in Lansing, within one month's time, but a funding source has yet to be secured to fun the work.