The true story behind legal thriller Dark Waters - how an American company poisoned thousands

Legal thriller Dark Waters tells the story of tenacious attorney Mark Ruffalo, who takes a stand against a chemical company that has been poisoning a local town.

From director Todd Haynes (Carol, Wonderstruck), the film is based on real events that affected thousands of people in West Virginia.

Here’s everything you need to know about the story behind it.

What is Dark Waters about?

Robert Bilott is a defence attorney who works on the environmental team at Cincinnati-based firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister.

Most of his days are spent defending the interests of major corporations like chemical giants DuPont - the massive firm which came in at number 35 on the 2019 Fortune 500 list of the largest companies in the United States.

However, everything changed in 1998 when a farmer from his father’s hometown told him that his cattle had been mysteriously dying in huge numbers in a grisly fashion – foaming at the mouth and covered in lesions.

When Bilott looked into the case, he uncovered clear evidence that DuPont’s nearby chemical plant had been dumping toxic waste into the town’s water supply. The plant in question was 35 times the size of the Pentagon.

The most concerning chemical being dumped was perfluorooctanoic acid, usually called PFOA, which had been linked to severe birth defects when pregnant women were exposed to it, as well as a host of illnesses including several forms of cancer.

The substance is nearly indestructible and so there are clear guidelines in place for how it must be disposed of. By not following them, DuPont allowed huge amounts of it to enter the town’s water supply.

Ultimately, DuPont was found to have poisoned over 70,000 local people as well as hundreds of animals.