The hometown of General Motors, Flint, Michigan, is now one of the poorest places in the nation, with a poverty rate of over 40% and some of the highest crime and homicide rates in the country. Crippled by debt and declining revenues, the city switched from sharing Detroit's water system to getting its water from the Flint River, but then neglected to properly treat the water or repair the city's aging network of decaying pipes.

Matt Black traveled to the city to document the situation and the abandoned population.

Painful rashes, hair loss, lead poisoning and at least 91 cases of Legionnaires'...