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"Poisoned Water," a new, one-hour documentary that looks at the Flint, Mich., water crisis, premieres Wednesday, May 31, at 8 p.m. on the PBS science series "NOVA."

Using interviews with the nation's leading water experts, the film unfolds like a detective story taking a look at the intricacies of water chemistry, the biology of lead poisoning and the misuse of science.

In April 2014, in a money-saving maneuver, city officials in Flint switched the municipal water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Unknown to the city officials, the switch would trigger a chemical chain reaction with devastating results: thousands of children exposed to lead poisoning, and two suspected outbreaks of Legionnaire's Disease, claiming 12 lives.

Kathy Stephenson