David Fahrenthold, The Washington Post

... Smith ... uses visual imagery to arresting effect. ... And the film also provides several moments of crackling journalism. Smith takes on the Eastern [Chesapeake Bay] Shore’s chicken industry and prods its representatives into the kind of verbal evasions that would twinkle a tobacco industry scientist’s eye. ...

Aaron Barnhardt, The Kansas City Star

... because Smith is one of television’s best storytellers on serious subjects, he knows how to make the water crisis riveting without bogging down viewers ...

Kevin McDonough, United Features Syndicate

... makes a strong case that a hands-off pollution policy is neither smart for business nor good for the environment.

Doug Knoop, The Seattle Times

... Heavy stuff, but informative viewing.

Tim Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun

... The documentary starts out a bit slowly, with a series of talking-head interviews. ... But the comments are clear and compelling, as is Smith’s narration, and they build momentum as the story unfolds showing how the Chesapeake and Puget are "indicators" of a larger national problem. ...

Cynthia Fuchs, Popmatters.com

... [the] sense of loss is palpable ... makes the case that such loss results from lagging efforts by government agencies, corporations, and individuals.

Alex Strachan, CanWest News Service

... Thoughtful and thought-provoking at the same time.

Steve Aquino, Mother Jones

... Narrator Hedrick Smith shows us the first striking snapshot of aquatic pollution when he joins one environmental activist on a flyover of a Purdue chicken farm in Maryland. ... Poisoned Waters is filled with those types of images: Frogs with six legs, once-male bass in West Virginia rivers that have morphed into females, and an underwater waste pipe spewing a constant noxious cloud of brown goop into Puget Sound. ...