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WKAR Special Events

Poisoned Water - Film Screening with NOVA and WKAR

NOVA: Poisoned Water
Courtesy
/
NOVA

FREE – Tuesday, May 23, at 7 p.m. | Discover the chemistry and engineering behind the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and other U.S. cities, and hear from the filmmakers, scientists and citizens bringing this important story to PBS. With discussion moderated by NOVA’s Paula S. Apsell. | RESERVE SEATS HERE

WKAR and NOVA invite you to a preview screening of Poisoned Water, a film produced by NOVA and narrated by Joe Morton. The film explores the chemistry and engineering behind the Flint water crisis, and reveals the dangers of our aging U.S. water system.

NOVA's 'Poisoned Water'
Tuesday, May 23 at 7 p.m.

Flint Institute of Arts

Guests will preview the full film eight days before the national PBS broadcast. The evening includes Q & A with a panel moderated by Paula S. Apsell, NOVA senior executive producer. Hear from the filmmakers, scientists and citizens bringing this important story to PBS.

Today, NOVA is the most popular science series on American television and online. Under Apsell's leadership, NOVA has won every major broadcasting award, some many times over.

The Panel
Scheduled panelists include: Dr. Marc Edwards, Charles Lunsford professor of civil engineering at Virginia Tech; Julia Cort, deputy executive producer at NOVA; Llewellyn “Llew” Smith, producer and director; Kelly Thomson, producer at NOVA,  Dr. Jeffrey Dwyer, director of MSU Extension; Veo Luster, Flint resident and principal at Luster’s Contracting; Gina Luster, Flint resident, mother, and activist; LeeAnne Walters, Flint resident, mother, water activist, and citizen scientist; and Elin Betanzo, director of the Safe Drinking Water Research and Policy Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute. View Panelist Bios Here (PDF).

June Pierce Youatt, Michigan State University provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, will provide opening remarks. Susi Elkins, WKAR general manager and MSU director of broadcasting, is the host for the evening.

Free with Reservation
This event is free, but registration is required. | RESERVE SEATS HERE

Where
Evening with WKAR and NOVA takes place at the Flint Institute of Arts, 1120 E. Kearsley St, Flint, Michigan 48503

Parking
Free parking is available on both the North and South entrances of the building. Overflow parking is available using Flint Central High School's parking lot, adjacent to the South end of the FIA.

Directions available at flintarts.org/visit/directions

More About 'Poisoned Water'
Water. Turn on the faucet and it’s always there. Without it we perish. But how safe is our tap water? In this special report, NOVA investigates what happened in Flint, Michigan when local officials changed the city’s water source to save money, but overlooked a critical treatment process. As the water pipes corroded, lead leached into the system, exposing the community—including thousands of children—to dangerous levels of poison. NOVA uncovers the science behind this manmade disaster— from the intricacies of water chemistry, to the biology of lead poisoning, to the misuse of science itself. NOVA follows ordinary citizens and independent scientists who exposed the danger lurking in Flint’s water and confronted those who turned a blind eye. Still, there’s a disturbing truth that reaches far beyond Flint—Water systems across the country are vulnerable to a similar fate. How can we protect ourselves from poisoned water?

More about Paula S. Apsell

As senior executive producer and director of the WGBH Science Unit, Paula S. Apsell oversees the production of NOVA documentaries and miniseries for television and directed the series' diversification into other media, most notably online, where NOVA is the most-visited site on PBS.org.

On the Air
Poisoned Water airs on Wednesday, May 31, 2017 at 9 p.m. on WKAR and PBS.

ABOUT NOVA
Now in its 44th season, NOVA is the most-watched primetime science series on American television, reaching an average of five million viewers weekly. The series remains committed to producing in-depth science programming in the form of hour-long (and occasionally longer) documentaries, from the latest breakthroughs in technology to the deepest mysteries of the natural world. NOVA is a production of WGBH Boston. NOVA airs Wednesdays at 9pm ET/PT on WGBH Boston and most PBS stations. The director of the WGBH Science Unit and senior executive producer of NOVA is Paula S. Apsell.

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