Poisoned Water: How the citizens of Flint, Michigan fought for their lives and warned the nation.

Cooper, Candy J. with Marc Aronson.  Poisoned Water.  2020. Bloomsbury Children's Books, New York.

The Flint Water Crisis rocked the faith that Americans had in local government and services.  Once listed as one of the best places to live in America, Flint fell on hard times when the GM Auto plants closed.  Those who were left behind were destitute.  As the tax based moved away, the schools fell into decline and the city infrastructure fell apart. Eventually, Flint was taken over by the state of Michigan and a City Manager was put in charge to cut costs.  The single most disastrous decision was to switch Flint from getting their water from Detroit and Lake Michigan to getting their water from the Flint River, processed through a plant that hadn't worked or been tested in decades.  A makeshift, untrained crew was put in charge of the water plant.  Within days, the people of Flint began getting sick from the water.  18 months later, the children of Flint were suffering from permanent damage from Lead Poisoning and the situation continued to deteriorate as politicians denied that there was any problem.

Poisoned Water traces the history of the Flint water crisis, from the glory days of Flint, Michigan to present times.  She traces the decisions that led to the water crisis and follows the ugly trail of denial and deceit as the citizens of Michigan were slowly poisoned by their local government.

The efforts of community activists as they raised alarm bells and fought the system in order to gain the necessary national attention to get things to change are highlighted.  In spite of seemingly insurmountable odds, their work eventually paid off in cleaner water for everyone.

The book also serves as a warning bell for other communities across the country.  While the story of the Flint Water Crisis had dropped off of the national radar, there are some very important lessons for every city in the United States.  Our infrastructure is old and quickly falling into disrepair.  As politicians struggle to find cheap fixes, our very lives are at risk.  We all need to pay attention to the hard lessons learned in Flint and advocate for ourselves and our children.