FLINT, Mich. — A federal lawsuit stemming from Flint’s lead-contaminated water was filed Monday on behalf of the city’s residents against Governor Rick Snyder as well as other current and former government officials and corporations.

The suit — which is seeking class-action status — alleges that tens of thousands of residents have suffered physical and economic injuries and damages. It contends that officials failed to take action over “dangerous levels of lead’’ in drinking water and “downplayed the severity of the contamination’’ in the financially struggling city.

Snyder’s spokesman, Ari Adler, said the administration doesn’t comment on pending litigation, but is “staying focused on solutions for the people of Flint.’’

Several lawsuits have been filed on behalf of Flint residents since a public health emergency was declared last year. The latest suit, which seeks a federal jury trial and unspecified damages, was filed on behalf of seven residents.

Two recall petitions targeting Snyder over the water crisis have been approved. The latest was filed by a Flint activist and approved Monday by the Board of State Canvassers, the Detroit Free Press reported. The other recall petition, filed by a Detroit pastor, was approved last month.

Flint, with a population of about 100,000, had switched from Detroit’s water system to the Flint River as a way to save money until a new pipeline to Lake Huron was ready. But during those 18 months, the corrosive water leached lead from the city’s old plumbing because certain treatments weren’t added to the water.

Snyder, whose administration repeatedly downplayed the lead threat, now calls it a “disaster.’’

A report by the state auditor general released Friday found that state environmental regulators made crucial errors as Flint began using the new drinking water source that would become contaminated with lead.

It says staffers in the Department of Environmental Quality’s drinking water office failed to order the city to treat its water with anticorrosion chemicals as it switched to the river in April 2014, but also said the rules they failed to heed might not be strong enough to protect the public.

The report came as crews in the city started to dig up old pipes connecting water mains to homes.

No level of lead in the human body is considered safe, especially in children. The river water also may have been a source of Legionnaires’ disease, which killed at least nine people in the region.

Mayor Karen Weaver announced Sunday that Union Labor Life Insurance Co. committed to bring $25 million in low-cost loans to help remove lead pipes and improve water quality.

She said the loans will help her Fast Start initiative that’s designed to replace all lead service lines in the city.

Weaver said the investment from the labor-owned insurance and investment company “means that we can move forward to remove more lead lines and renew Flint’s infrastructure.’’ The first residential lead pipe removal as part of the Fast Start program took place Friday.

State officials said Monday that no evidence has been found indicating that the lead-contaminated water may have any direct effect on how sprinkler systems in buildings work during emergencies.

The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs said industry experts and mechanical contractors have inspected sprinkler systems in the city.

State Fire Marshal Julie Secontine said “building owners are, however, reminded to follow proper preventative maintenance and inspection guidelines to help ensure their facilities are safe.’’

Flint was under state financial control in 2014 when it switched from Detroit’s system to the Flint River to save money. The city has since returned to Detroit’s water system.

Actor Mark Ruffalo said people across the country should learn more about Flint’s water crisis.

Ruffalo, who is also the founder of a nonprofit organization that advocates for clean water called Water Defense, toured the Hurley Medical Center in Flint on Monday to get a firsthand look.

The Flint Journal reported that Ruffalo said the situation in Flint is “really only the tip of the iceberg of a kind of attitude towards our people and our resources that is happening everywhere in the United States.’’

At Hurley, he met with Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, who faced scorn last year as she tried to expose dangerous levels of lead in the water.