This article was originally published by Timothy Cama, on March 7th, 2016 on The Hill

Seven families in Flint, Mich., filed a federal lawsuit seeking damages from the city and state over the lead-contaminated drinking water crisis.

The families are seeking class-action status from the court to cover any children poisoned by lead that leached into water due to the 2014 switch in Flint’s water source, NBC News reported Monday.

Flint resident Melissa Lightfoot told NBC her three children had no health problems before the water switch, and now all three have dangerously high lead levels in their blood.

“My kids are getting poisoned from something that’s a necessity, and as a parent there’s nothing I can do to help them. It’s already in them, I can’t take it out, and there’s no medicine for it,” Lightfoot, one of the plaintiffs in the case, told NBC.

Flint, spurred by a state-appointed emergency manager, switched to using the Flint River in 2014 to save money. But the water was corrosive and, without proper treatment in place, began to fill with lead from the city’s pipes.

The plaintiffs say the state and city violated the Safe Drinking Water Act.

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