At a Glance

The city of Flint's water came from the Flint River for 18 months.Improper treatment let lead leach from pipes into residents' tap water. Fifteen current and former city and state officials were charged with crimes.Tests say the city's water is now safe, but residents still use bottled water.

Five years ago, water from the Flint River began flowing through the city of Flint's pipes and into residents' homes.

The improperly treated water of almost 100,000 people. The water was cloudy, foul smelling and had a metallic taste.

Eighteen months later — after lead levels in children were already rising — officials switched the Michigan city back to Detroit's pre-treated water from Lake Huron.

Even though five years have passed and , residents still according to a report by M-Live/The Flint Journal.

The Rev. Monica M. Villarreal, a pastor at Salem Lutheran Church, won't even use it for baptisms.

“I don’t trust the tap water,” Villarreal told mlive.com. “We still have some major projects that have to happen before I do.”

(MORE: America's 10 Most Endangered Rivers for 2019)

Agustin Arbulu, director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, told the Earther blog, “, and people’s lives are affected at all ages, all races, all ethnicities, all genders is not something that disappears. And for this community, it is not something that goes away easily. The distrust continues.”

Fifteen current and former city and state officials have been charged with crimes in Flint's water crisis. to misdemeanors as parts of plea deals, the New York Times reported, but no one has been sentenced to prison. Eight cases are pending.

Flint's new mayor, Karen Weaver, tells city residents to still use only filtered or bottled water.

“It’s a community that’s still dealing with the trauma and the aftermath of having been poisoned at the hands of the government,” Weaver told the Times.

“We don’t trust,” she said. “Trust was broken on every single level of government.”

(MORE: Drought-Plagued Rio Grande at a 'Complete Turnaround' from Last Year, Water Managers Say)

One big blow to trust was the revelation, after the city switched back to Detroit water, that a Legionnaires' disease outbreak had killed at least 12 people during the switch. Two studies , the Detroit News reported, but the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services disputed the results.

Flint resident Takisha Moller consoles her 3-year-old daughter Destinee Wilson in the middle of the protest on the steps of the Capitol Building during a rally on the five-year anniversary of the Flint water crisis on Thursday, April 25, 2019, in Lansing, Michigan. Moller became pregnant with Desintee in 2014 before giving birth to her in 2015. Throughout her pregnancy, Moller drank unfiltered Flint tap water. "I boiled water to give her baths, and I boiled her bottles, not knowing that I was further poisoning her. And the result of that: She's 3 years old, she's the size of maybe a one-and-a-half-year-old," Moller said.

(Jake May/MLive.com/The Flint Journal via AP)

Last year, Michigan's then-Gov. Rick Snyder because of consistent testing showing reduced lead levels in Flint's water. Many residents now rely on water donated by Nestle Waters North America or local civic and church groups.

The city has replaced almost 8,000 lead and galvanized-steel water service lines. Since 2016, more than 20,000 lines have been inspected. Eric Schwartz, a University of Michigan professor, estimates there are 7,500 service lines to be checked still, and according to Michigan Radio.

Flint officials hope to have all lead and galvanized pipes replaced by the end of 2019.

When all the lead pipes are replaced, Flint's residents will get the all-clear to use their tap water again, mlive.com reports.

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee says that may not be enough to regain residents’ trust.

“The reason people in Flint don't trust us is because they were lied to,” Kildee told mlive.com. “I don't think it's reasonable for anyone to expect the people of Flint just to get over that just because the pipes are being fixed.”