Read Bob’s answer – he seems incredibly well-informed (he answered my question really well!)
Also, and on the side, several people are concerned about the cleanliness of the water in the US, since the government is considering changing the mining laws. If mining is allowed on the tops of hills this pollutes the rivers and streams which flow in the valleys at the base of the hills. There is controversy about allowing this type of mining, and the controversy is based upon the clean water act.
This is not a two sentence answer, but stick with me, please.
In the period 1800-1970 our water got progressively dirtier. Fish died, going to a riverfront was unpleasant because of the odor, etc. Once a river actually caught fire. Not the river itself, of course, the chemical pollution that was in it.
A large part of the problem was that factories dumped industrial waste into water and cities dumped raw sewage. There were laws to supposedly prevent that, but they were not effective.
So in 1972 Congress passed the Clean Water Act. It said that factories and cities could no longer dump waste into water unless they ran it through good equipment to remove most all of the chemical pollutants. They were given some time to do this, of course.
And it’s been a spectacular success. Fish are coming back most everywhere, and cities are making recreational use of water which had been simply disgusting.
It cost a whole lot of money. And some people said it was a waste of money, that there wasn’t a real problem, that the effort would cause our economy to collapse. Industries said they couldn’t afford to clean up their waste, that it would put them out of business. But we got clean water and a thriving economy too. Something to remember when you see the same people saying the same things about global warming.
More info:http://www.cincinnati.com/nie/archive/10…http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/cwa3…
To Lady Pandora below.
Thanks. 21 years as an environmental professional. One who has been criticized loudly by both environmentalists and industry. When I was at EPA, we figured that that meant you’d got an issue about right.
Read Bob’s answer – he seems incredibly well-informed (he answered my question really well!)
Also, and on the side, several people are concerned about the cleanliness of the water in the US, since the government is considering changing the mining laws. If mining is allowed on the tops of hills this pollutes the rivers and streams which flow in the valleys at the base of the hills. There is controversy about allowing this type of mining, and the controversy is based upon the clean water act.
This is not a two sentence answer, but stick with me, please.
In the period 1800-1970 our water got progressively dirtier. Fish died, going to a riverfront was unpleasant because of the odor, etc. Once a river actually caught fire. Not the river itself, of course, the chemical pollution that was in it.
A large part of the problem was that factories dumped industrial waste into water and cities dumped raw sewage. There were laws to supposedly prevent that, but they were not effective.
So in 1972 Congress passed the Clean Water Act. It said that factories and cities could no longer dump waste into water unless they ran it through good equipment to remove most all of the chemical pollutants. They were given some time to do this, of course.
And it’s been a spectacular success. Fish are coming back most everywhere, and cities are making recreational use of water which had been simply disgusting.
It cost a whole lot of money. And some people said it was a waste of money, that there wasn’t a real problem, that the effort would cause our economy to collapse. Industries said they couldn’t afford to clean up their waste, that it would put them out of business. But we got clean water and a thriving economy too. Something to remember when you see the same people saying the same things about global warming.
More info:http://www.cincinnati.com/nie/archive/10…http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/cwa3…
To Lady Pandora below.
Thanks. 21 years as an environmental professional. One who has been criticized loudly by both environmentalists and industry. When I was at EPA, we figured that that meant you’d got an issue about right.
it so everyone can have clean water.duh.