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Flint residents who’ve grown accustomed to using bottled water and avoiding the faucet are getting new instructions: Turn on the taps. The conundrum, expert Marc Edwards said Tuesday, is that residents afraid of using the water aren’t running enough of it to rid the system of toxic lead. People aren’t showering as much, are leery of drinking or cooking with tap water even with faucet filters, and don’t want to pay higher bills for water they’re not using, despite the state helping to offset rates. (Eggert, 4/12)

A task force appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to investigate the Flint water crisis told lawmakers Tuesday that the situation in Flint was a failure of leadership in the state, a clear case of environmental injustice and a reason to change the state’s emergency manager law. There is no single piece of legislative action or a bill that could have prevented the crisis in Flint, Ken Sikkema, co-chairman of the task force and a former state senator told the legislative panel. (Gray, 4/12)

With recent national attention on lead in drinking water, Des Moines Public Schools is testing the water in all of its school buildings. Communities across the U.S. have been examining lead levels in their water supplies in the wake of the Flint, Mich., water crisis, which caused officials to declare a state of emergency there earlier this year as excessive lead in the water had sickened many of Flint's residents. (Haley, 4/12)

Sacramento Councilman Jay Schenirer asked the city manager Monday to order tests of residential yards for lead contamination near a closed city gun range in Mangan Park where test records show the toxic substance leaked outside at high levels. Schenirer also requested that the city pursue soil tests around Mangan Park on 34th Avenue, where the gun range has stood for decades. The park, which is in Schenirer’s district, includes a playground, swimming pool and athletic fields used by families and soccer leagues. (Lillis, 4/12)