The most valuable and illuminating account yet of the Flint water crisis.

After decades of abandonment, the mostly African-American residents of Flint, Mich., thought they had lived through the worst of times. They were wrong. More than a year after first complaining of discolored, foul-smelling water flowing from faucets, of their children falling ill with stomach ailments and skin rashes, and of bureaucrats ridiculing their pleas for relief, the truth finally, painfully emerged.

Based on the award-winning journalism of Bridge Magazine, Poison on Tap provides a riveting,
authoritative account of the government blunders, mendacity and arrogance that produced the lead-poisoned water crisis in Flint:

• How a series of state-appointed emergency managers put cost-cutting ahead of public health in one of Michigan’s poorest cities.

• How state experts misinterpreted basic safeguards that should have prevented lead from entering Flint’s drinking supply, as federal officials dithered for months over whether to warn the public.

• How a governor who rose to prominence on the mantra of “relentless, positive action” missed the red flags.

• And how a series of heroes refused to accept the pat dismissals of government agencies, prodding and needling until their voices were finally heard.