LANSING — Groups and a Flint resident suing state officials over the Flint drinking water crisis went back to federal court Wednesday to try to enforce an order requiring the state and City of Flint to start regular bottled water delivery to certain Flint households.

The state and city defendants in the case have been ordered three times — twice by a federal judge and once by the Michigan Court of Appeals — to start delivering bottled water to all homes that can't be shown to have a properly installed and maintained water filter. The state continues to appeal the order and has yet to comply with it, though it maintains any home that needs bottled water delivery can get that service by dialing 2-1-1.

The first such order was handed down Nov. 10.

On Wednesday, Concerned Pastors for Social Action and other plaintiffs in the case filed an emergency motion to force the state and city to comply with the order.

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U.S. District Judge David Lawson, who is handling the case, ordered the city and state to respond by Friday.

“The state and city’s dislike for a federal court order does not give them license to ignore it,” said Henry Henderson, director of the Midwest program for the Natural Resources Defense Council, another plaintiff in the case. “It is winter in Flint, and tracking down drinking water in the bone-chilling cold makes life harder for all. We’re asking the court to take emergency action to ensure safe water is available for every person in Flint, immediately."

The state has said the delivery is too expensive unnecessary, and counterproductive because it would decrease use of filtered tap water, which helps to cleanse the piping system. State officials said in a recent court filing that the order should be revoked because lead levels in the tap water in Flint now meets or exceeds federal safety guidelines. At the same time, state officials continue to tell Flint residents not to drink the tap water without a filter.

Anna Heaton, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Snyder, denied the state is dragging its feet.

"We continue to work toward compliance with Judge Lawson’s order," Heaton said Wednesday. "The state does not currently possess the network necessary to immediately provide bottled water delivery to each household."

Heaton said teams of state workers and Flint residents who perform filter installation, maintenance and education have visited more than 13,000 homes since the judge’s order was issued in November, and the state continues to ramp up those efforts.

She said requests for delivery of bottled water and filters are met within 24 hours and nine distribution centers are open, where residents can pick up free water.

Other plaintiffs in the case are the ACLU and Flint resident Melissa Mays.

Michael J. Steinberg, legal director of the ACLU of Michigan, said "the people of Flint are desperate for clean water and cannot afford any more delays."

"Enough is enough," Steinberg said in a news release.

The defendants are Michigan Treasurer Nick Khouri and members of the state-appointed Receivership Transition Advisory Board, overseeing Flint's transition from emergency management back to self-government.

Flint's drinking water became contaminated with lead in April 2014 after the city switched from treated Lake Huron water supplied from Detroit to raw water from the Flint River, which was treated at the Flint Water Treatment Plant.

Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials have acknowledged a mistake in failing to require corrosion-control chemicals to be added to the water. As a result, lead leached from pipes, joints and fixtures into Flint households.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.



