Documentary “Troubled Waters” draws controversy

I’ve been meaning to post on this furor for a while, and while a bit late doing so, still believe it’s an interesting story as it highlights what might be seen as classic corporate tactics in the face of potential exposure of wrong-doings.
“Troubled Waters” is a documentary sponsored by the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum of Natural History and highlights both problems of agricultural run-off and possible solutions. Scheduled to be released this year, it was suddenly and somewhat inexplicably pulled from being screened. A bit of digging highlighted that Ag lobbyists had a hand in stopping the screening. The back-and-forth news hype that ensued generated much discussion about academic freedom and corporate interests. UMinn-St Paul is a land grant institution with strong ties to the agricultural sector.
To read more about the controversy and its resolution, check out the Katie Horner’s post on Columbia University’s State of the Planet page. The controversy was also followed closely by Minnesota Public Radio.
One final tongue-in-cheek note: The controversy itself could be good material for a short film, perhaps not entirely original but in tradition of Chinatown.
And that final thought made me think about other water related films. Here’s a nice list of options from the Santa Cruz Sentinel.