DETROIT -- Lawyers for Flint and state officials on Friday asked a federal judge to stay out of

the city's water crisis.

Seeking dismissal of a federal lawsuit calling for broader response to Flint's water crisis, government attorneys argued that a January order from the Environmental Protection Agency already requires actions to restore safe city tap water, and that the court should stay out of it.

"We're doing what we're told... There's no need for the lawsuit," argued Michael Murphy, an attorney for state Treasurer Nick Khouri and members of the Flint Receivership Transition Advisory Board.

"... The city has indicated they are complying with the order. The state goes beyond the Safe Drinking Water Act in what it is doing in the city of Flint. Why is there a need for the court to step in and order A, B, C, when A, B and C are already being done?"

The lawsuit was filed in later January, shortly after the EPA issued its order, by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the ACLU of Michigan, Concerned Pastors for Social Action and Flint resident Melissa Mays.

The group is seeking court-ordered-replacement of all lead service lines in the city at no cost to residents, and in the meantime, door-to-door delivery of bottled water and filters, professionally installed and regularly monitored.

Attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council Dimple Chaudhary argued in Detroit federal court Friday that the EPA order does not require those actions.

"It's a limited order," she said. "It makes no finding of liability... no findings of compliance... The order makes no findings of violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act. What we're seeking through this case is very different from what the (EPA) order is trying to accomplish."

Murphy noted that the plaintiffs petitioned the EPA in October 2015, and that the federal agency issued its order after a few months, a period of time he indicated was adequate.

"It depends on whether you're trying to take a shower in your own home or not, I guess," responded U.S. District Judge David Lawson.

William Kim, a lawyer for the city of Flint, also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, argued that the plaintiff's problem appears to be with the EPA, which is not targeted in the court complaint.

"Essentially, what they're trying to do is re-litigate issues that they believe the EPA didn't address sufficiently," he said.

Lawson said he'd issue a decision on the motions for dismissal in writing.

It's one of numerous lawsuits filed by Flint residents after elevated lead levels were discovered in children after the city changed its water source from Lake Huron water purchased from the Detroit water system to the Flint River in April 2014, a decision made while the city was being run by a state-appointed emergency manager.

State regulators never required that the river water be treated to make it less corrosive, causing lead from pipes to leach into the water supply.

Even though the city reconnected to the Detroit water system in October 2015 after a sustained public outcry, officials still advise Flint residents not to drink city without using a lead-clearing filter.