In 2014, Flint, Michigan, was a cash-strapped city that had been built up, then abandoned by
General Motors. As part of a plan to save money, government officials decided that Flint would
temporarily switch its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Within months, many
residents broke out in rashes. Then it got worse: Children stopped growing. Some people were
hospitalized with mysterious illnesses; others died. Citizens of Flint protested that the water was
dangerous. Despite what seemed so apparent from the murky, foul-smelling liquid pouring from
the city’s faucets, officials refused to listen. They treated the people of Flint as the problem, not the
water—which was actually poisoning thousands.
Through interviews with residents and intensive research into legal records and news accounts,
journalist Candy J. Cooper, assisted by writer-editor Marc Aronson, reveals the true story of Flint.
Poisoned Water shows not just how the crisis unfolded in 2014, but also the history of racism and
segregation that led up to it, the beliefs and attitudes that fueled it, and how the people of Flint
fought—and are still fighting—for clean water and healthy lives.
