A federal judge has found the city of Flint in contempt of court for missing deadlines for lead water line replacement and related work in the aftermath of the Michigan city's water crisis.

U.S. District Judge David Lawson found the city in civil contempt for violating a February 2023 court order. The order arose from a 2017 settlement of the lawsuit under which the city pledged to replace lead pipes that carry drinking water.

The city had agreed to replace the pipes by early 2020 but still has not completed that work, according to a news release Wednesday from the Natural Resources Defense Council. Also, homeowners are waiting, in some cases for years, for the city to repair property damage such as damaged curbs, sidewalks, and lawns caused by the lead line replacement, the NRDC said.

"The city has failed to abide by the court’s orders in several respects, and ... it has no good reason for its failures," Lawson wrote in an order issued late Tuesday.