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Julie Hinds of the Detroit Free Press calls the documentary, "Poisoned Water," the "most concise, compelling retelling yet" of the Flint water crisis.
The documentary airs 9 p.m. Wednesday on the PBS series, "Nova."
The Flint crisis came about when the city, as part of a money-saving effort, switched from the Detroit water system to the Flint River. The result has been a health disaster and political one too for folks like Gov. Rick Snyder.
Hinds writes:
For those not fluent in chemical reactions and corrosion control, the "Nova" episode explains, step by step, how water should be cleaned properly and why the mistakes made in Flint resulted in the breakdown of the coating that develops inside pipes. When that is gone, one expert notes, "We often say it's like drinking through a lead-painted straw.”
It also painstakingly, yet clearly, explores the awful impact of lead on the developmental growth of children. It's chilling to learn that lead essentially fools the body into thinking it's calcium, an insidious trick that ends up blocking communication between brain synapses.
