Flint Mayor Karen Weaver testified before Congress on Wednesday about the city's water crisis.
Gov. Rick Snyder was invited to the hearing in Washington, too, but declined to attend.
"My beloved hometown has had its water supply poisoned by lead, which means it's undrinkable. It can't be used for cooking," Weaver said. "And although experts claim it's safe to bathe in and to wash one's clothes in, the citizens of Flint complained of skin rashes, hair loss and other ailments that they attribute to the water."
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha and Flint's schools superintendent also testified at Wednesday's hearing.
Hanna-Attisha pointed to the lack of proper water treatment after the city switched from Detroit's water system to its own.
"The criminality was that corrosion control was not added to this water treatment. It went into an aging infrastructure that was predominantly lead-based and the water was not being used as much because of decreased population and exorbitant water rates," she said.