--- title: Flint Water Crisis: What to Know in 3 Minutes description: The road to recovery is long canonical: https://time.com/4248402/flint-water-crisis-what-know/ author: Joyce Lee article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-04T21:43:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-30T12:03:01.657Z article:section: U.S. og:title: What to Know About the Flint Water Crisis in 3 Minutes og:description: The road to recovery is long og:url: https://time.com/4248402/flint-water-crisis-what-know/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bcaa51943bf8456/6988804b196cf4d5db03aa10/flint_water.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Flint Water og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What to Know About the Flint Water Crisis in 3 Minutes twitter:description: The road to recovery is long twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bcaa51943bf8456/6988804b196cf4d5db03aa10/flint_water.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What to Know About the Flint Water Crisis in 3 Minutes by [Joyce Lee](/author/joyce-lee/) and [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) Mar 4, 2016 9:43 PM CUT  The Flint Water Plant tower, Feb. 26, 2016 in Flint, Mich. The Flint Water Plant tower, Feb. 26, 2016 in Flint, Mich.Paul Sancya—AP by [Joyce Lee](/author/joyce-lee/) and [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) Mar 4, 2016 9:43 PM CUT The city of Flint, Mich. is [coping with a crisis ](http://time.com/4188328/the-poisoning-of-an-american-city/ "undefined")caused by [increased levels of lead ](http://time.com/4191864/flint-water-crisis-lead-contaminated-michigan/ "undefined")in the city’s water supply. In a cost-saving measure, the city switched its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River in mid-2014\. Residents soon began complaining of issues with their water, only to later discover that the water they’d been using to bathe, eat and drink was contaminated with lead. Blood-lead levels quickly increased in the city’s children, far beyond the amounts considered safe by regulators. The city has since switched its source of water, and the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the crisis. Yet, the road to normalcy in Flint, a majority black, largely poor Midwestern city is bumpy and long. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4248402/flint-water-crisis-what-know/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4248402/flint-water-crisis-what-know/"},"headline":"What to Know About the Flint Water Crisis in 3 Minutes","datePublished":"2016-03-04T21:43:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T12:03:01.657Z","description":"The road to recovery is long","url":"https://time.com/4248402/flint-water-crisis-what-know/","keywords":["cities","U.S.","Water","Flint","Flint Water Crisis"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bcaa51943bf8456/6988804b196cf4d5db03aa10/flint_water.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joyce Lee","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joyce-lee/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bcaa51943bf8456/6988804b196cf4d5db03aa10/flint_water.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Flint Water","caption":"Flint Water","creditText":"Paul Sancya—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/cities/","name":"cities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4248402/flint-water-crisis-what-know/","name":"What to Know About the Flint Water Crisis in 3 Minutes"}}]}] ```