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LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Flint residents who've grown accustomed to using bottled water and avoiding the faucet are getting new instructions: Turn on the taps. The conundrum, water expert Marc Edwards said Tuesday, is that city 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 water bills to run water they're not using, despite the state helping to offset rates. But that's slowing efforts to clean out lead deposits and effectively recoat the pipes and plumbing to make them safe again, said Edwards, a Virginia Tech professor who helped exposed the lead problem in Flint. While lead levels are lower, he said without more water use it could take months or even years, to rid the system of contamination. "We've got to get more water flowing through the system," he said during a news conference on the campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. His team studied homes with persistently high lead levels and discovered water use is as low as 20 percent of typical usage. Lead levels from March were lower than when his team tested homes last August, he said, but still exceeded federal limits — which means residents should continue using faucet filters and bottled water. He said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality soon could announce a plan to boost water use quickly, noting there have been discussions about providing water for free for a couple weeks. Flint went without corrosion controls in its water for 18 months, after the city switched to using the Flint River as a water source to save money while under state financial management. That allowed lead, which has been linked to developmental disabilities in children and other issues, to leach from old pipes. The city has since reconnected to the Detroit area's water system, which uses corrosion chemicals, but the damaged pipes need the coating. Gov. Rick Snyder's office said both government and outside experts are beginning to suggest that flushing Flint's system, including individual homes, would be "very good" to improve water quality. Snyder is studying how to address the cost of running more water to increase participation by Flint residents, spokesman Ari Adler said. "We don't have a formal protocol for how or how long to do this yet, but the DEQ, EPA and Virginia Tech teams are working on one," Adler said. "The governor understands the importance of what needs to be done and also the hesitation some Flint residents may have in doing so because of the potential cost. It will be vitally important for everyone to participate to ensure the water quality improves in Flint."

Flint's latest conundrum? People aren't using enough water