The U.S. Midwestern state of Michigan has produced a 600-million-U.S.-dollar settlement for more than 33,000 Flint water victims as a result of a water switch in April 2014, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
According to the agreement, the victims will not receive payouts from the settlement equally. The amount of the payment will be "based on a formula that directs more money to younger claimants and to those who can prove greater injury," the Detroit News reported.
The formula will be further outlined when the settlement is approved.
The settlement is expected to cover all Flint children who were younger than 18 at the time of the water switch as well as adults who were personally injured by lead contamination or Legionnaires' Disease or whose property was damaged.
So far, 33,459 people have filed a claim or intend to bring a claim, the Detroit News quoted Attorney General of Michigan Dana Nessel's office as saying, adding the number is expected to grow.
The Flint water crisis started in April 2014, when a cost-cutting decision diverted the city's water source from treated Detroit Water to the polluted Flint River.
The corrosive Flint River water caused lead from aging pipes to leak into the water supply, resulting in extremely elevated levels of the heavy metal neurotoxin and exposing over 100,000 residents to elevated lead levels.
The city switched back to the Detroit water system in October 2015.