Hey listeners, this is Katya.

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I'm Brooke Gladstone. This week, four more officials were charged in connection with the Flint,

Michigan water crisis, bringing the total number of people charged to 13. But the people of Flint

had already been drinking the poisoned water for almost two years before the story finally got the national spotlight.

Here's the background. In late 2013, Flint, a city in such dire financial straits that

had an emergency manager in charge, decided to cut ties with Detroit's costly water system.

But the new system Flint had chosen

wouldn't be ready for two years.

So in April of 2014,

the city tapped the Flint River.

Four years later, e. coli was detected.

The treatment, chlorine, brought other problems,

as residents told Michigan Public Radio.

My eyes are burning in the shower, and I was like, oh my goodness, like, what's going on?

I get out the shower and I can't see for it.

...