Disturbing but very important investigative report over at the NYT about water pollution in this country, and increasing failure by the government to prevent or stop polluters, AND increasing incidences of water pollution.
According to the Times:
Almost four decades ago, Congress passed the
Clean Water Act to force polluters to disclose the toxins they dump
into waterways and to give regulators the power to fine or jail
offenders. States have passed pollution statutes of their own. But in
recent years, violations of the Clean Water Act have risen steadily
across the nation, an extensive review of water pollution records by
The New York Times found.
In the last five years alone, chemical factories, manufacturing
plants and other workplaces have violated water pollution laws more
than half a million times. The violations range from failing to report
emissions to dumping toxins at concentrations regulators say might
contribute to cancer, birth defects and other illnesses.
However, the vast majority of those polluters have escaped
punishment. State officials have repeatedly ignored obvious illegal
dumping, and the Environmental Protection Agency, which can prosecute polluters when states fail to act, has often declined to intervene.
And this isn't necessarily your grandfather's pollution:
Because most of today’s water pollution has no scent or taste, many
people who consume dangerous chemicals do not realize it, even after
they become sick, researchers say.
But an estimated 19.5 million Americans fall ill each year from
drinking water contaminated with parasites, bacteria or viruses,
according to a study published last year in the scientific journal
Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. That figure does
not include illnesses caused by other chemicals and toxins.
Government at all levels has fallen asleep, or simply looked the other way, while violations and health impacts increase.
Finally, the Times’s research shows that fewer than 3 percent of Clean
Water Act violations resulted in fines or other significant punishments
by state officials. And the E.P.A. has often declined to prosecute
polluters or force states to strengthen their enforcement by
threatening to withhold federal money or take away powers the agency
has delegated to state officials.
Very cool article on PNW bats and efforts to monitor the health of the population.