1.
Water pollution
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Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies. This form of environmental degradation occurs when pollutants are directly or indirectly discharged into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds, Water pollution affects the entire biosphere – plants and organisms living in these bodies of water. In almost all cases the effect is damaging not only to individual species and population, Water pollution is a major global problem which requires ongoing evaluation and revision of water resource policy at all levels. It has been suggested that pollution is the leading worldwide cause of deaths and diseases. An estimated 580 people in India die of water related illness every day. About 90 percent of the water in the cities of China is polluted, as of 2007, half a billion Chinese had no access to safe drinking water. In addition to the problems of water pollution in developing countries. The head of Chinas national development agency said in 2007 that one quarter the length of Chinas seven main rivers were so poisoned the water harmed the skin. Natural phenomena such as volcanoes, algae blooms, storms, and earthquakes also cause changes in water quality. Although interrelated, surface water and groundwater have often studied and managed as separate resources. Surface water seeps through the soil and becomes groundwater, conversely, groundwater can also feed surface water sources. Sources of surface water pollution are generally grouped into two based on their origin. Point source water pollution refers to contaminants that enter a waterway from a single, identifiable source, examples of sources in this category include discharges from a sewage treatment plant, a factory, or a city storm drain. The U. S. Clean Water Act defines point source for regulatory enforcement purposes, the CWA definition of point source was amended in 1987 to include municipal storm sewer systems, as well as industrial storm water, such as from construction sites. Nonpoint source pollution refers to contamination that does not originate from a single discrete source. NPS pollution is often the cumulative effect of small amounts of contaminants gathered from a large area, a common example is the leaching out of nitrogen compounds from fertilized agricultural lands. Nutrient runoff in storm water from sheet flow over a field or a forest are also cited as examples of NPS pollution. Contaminated storm water washed off of parking lots, roads and highways, however, because this runoff is typically channeled into storm drain systems and discharged through pipes to local surface waters, it becomes a point source
Water pollution
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Raw sewage and
industrial waste in the
New River as it passes from
Mexicali to
Calexico, California
Water pollution
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Pollution in the
Lachine Canal, Canada
Water pollution
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Point source pollution –
Shipyard –
Rio de Janeiro.
Water pollution
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Poster to teach people in South Asia about human activities leading to the pollution of water sources
2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
United States
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Native Americans meeting with Europeans, 1764
United States
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Flag
United States
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The signing of the
Mayflower Compact, 1620.
United States
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The
Declaration of Independence: the
Committee of Five presenting their draft to the
Second Continental Congress in 1776
3.
Buffalo Creek flood
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The resulting flood unleashed approximately 132,000,000 US gallons of black waste water, cresting over 30 ft high, upon the residents of 16 coal towns along Buffalo Creek Hollow. Out of a population of 5,000 people,125 were killed,1,121 were injured,507 houses were destroyed, in addition to forty-four mobile homes and 30 businesses. The disaster destroyed or damaged homes in Saunders, Pardee, Lorado, Craneco, Lundale, Stowe, Crites, Latrobe, Robinette, Amherstdale, Becco, Fanco, Braeholm, Accoville, Crown and Kistler. In its legal filings, Pittston Coal referred to the accident as an Act of God, Dam #3, constructed of coarse mining refuse dumped into the Middle Fork of Buffalo Creek starting in 1968, failed first, following heavy rains. The water from Dam #3 then overwhelmed Dams #2 and #1, Dam #3 had been built on top of coal slurry sediment that had collected behind dams #1 and #2, instead of on solid bedrock. Dam #3 was approximately 260 feet above the town of Saunders when it failed, the Governors Commission of Inquiry report called for new legislation and further inquiry by the local prosecutor. The Citizens Commission report concluded that the Buffalo Creek-Pittston Coal Company was guilty of murdering at least 124 men, women and children, Moore, Jr. three days before he left office in 1977. The lawyers for the plaintiffs, Arnold & Porter of Washington, west Virginia has yet to build the center, though the center was promised by Governor Moore in May 1972. Gerald M. Stern, an attorney with Arnold & Porter, sociologist Kai T. Eriksons book later won the 1977 Sorokin Award, granted by the American Sociological Association for an outstanding contribution to the progress of sociology. Dennis Prince and some 625 survivors of the flood sued the Pittston Coal Company and they settled in June 1974 for $13.5 million, or approximately $13,000 for each individual after legal costs. A second suit was filed by 348 child survivors, who sought $225 million, kerry Albright became known as the miracle baby of the disaster. Running from the edge of the water, his mother threw him just above the flood level moments before she drowned. He survived with few ill effects, and was raised by his father and his survival gave hope and inspiration to other survivors. In the NCIS episode Corporal Punishment, Dr. Mallard references the Buffalo Creek Disaster when discussing PTSD in a soldier returning from the Iraq War, on their 2004 release, the band American Minor includes a song titled Buffalo Creek that was written about the Buffalo Creek disaster. Aberfan disaster Coal slurry impoundment Martin County coal slurry spill Sludge The Buffalo Creek Flood, west Virginia Division of Culture and History. Guide to the Council of Southern Mountains Records includes documents pertaining to Buffalo Creek interviews, articles, berea College Special Collections and Archives
Buffalo Creek flood
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Aerial View of Buffalo Creek area taken the day after impoundment dam #3 failed.
4.
Hinkley groundwater contamination
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PG&E used chromium 6—one of the cheapest and most efficient commercially available rust suppressors—in their compressor station for natural gas transmission pipelines. These cooling waters were then disposed of adjacent to the compressor stations, although the dumping took place from 1952 to 1966 when Hinkley was a remote desert community united by a single school and a general store. PG&E did not inform the local board of the contamination until December 7,1987. In 1993, Erin Brockovich, a clerk to lawyer Edward L. Masry. In 1996 after arbitrators awarded $130.5 million in the first 39 cases, PG&E decided to settle for $333 million, in 1997, an article was published in which Zhang allegedly retracted his 1987 research. It was published under Zhangs name—who was then a retired Chinese government health officer, in spite of his written objection—and a second Chinese scientist, according to Peter Waldman, Zhang’s son was outraged at the idea that his father would willingly have invalidated his earlier award-winning work. In contrast to the article, the new one concluded that chromium wasn’t the likely culprit. The revised study — which did not reveal the involvement of PG&E or its scientists — helped persuade California health officials to delay new drinking water standards for chromium, in 2000, the lawsuit became an international cause célèbre, when Erin Brockovich, the blockbuster movie was released. In 1985 he opened the Washington, D. C. office for McCutchen and he was appointed as member of the PG&E Board of Directors from 2000 until his death in 2013. Andrews had expertise in law and co-founded MetaJure Inc. which focused on high-tech solutions for the legal industry. He was on the board during the tenure of PG&E Corporation Chairman, CEO, in response to public attention in March,2001, the CalEPA asked the University of California, Berkeley to name a panel of blue-ribbon experts to form the Chromate Toxicity Review Committee. A public meeting was held on July 25,2001 to get input on the review of scientific questions regarding the potential of chromium 6+ to cause cancer when ingested. The panel was selected by Jerold A, Last with Dennis Paustenbach as Vice President and included Mark Schrenker, Silvio De Flora and John Froines as panelists. Paustenbach, De Flora and Froines resigned from the committee and were replaced, on August 31,2001 the Chromate Toxicity Review Committee—which then included Russell Flegal, Jerold Last, Ernest E. Their report cited both the 1987 Zhang article and the retracted 1997 version.5 parts per billion, in 2001, the firm of Engstron, Lipscomb and Lack had filed a follow-up lawsuit which is known as Aguayo vs. PG&E on behalf of 900 people stemming from contamination with chromium in both Hinkley and Kettleman, California and they were waiving the blue-ribbon report—the blue-ribbon panel report—like a flag. They said to the judge, The State of California has spoken and it has said that chromium VI does not cause cancer by ingestion, and they wanted to amend their paperwork, their motions, their declarations, and move to dismiss our case. And they got permission to do that
Hinkley groundwater contamination
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A protest sign outside Hinkley town.
5.
Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill
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1.1 billion US gallons of coal fly ash slurry was released. It was the largest fly ash release in United States history, the Tennessee Valley Authority and Environmental Protection Agency initially estimated that the spill released 1.7 million cubic yards of sludge, which is gray in color. After an aerial survey, the estimate was more than tripled to 5.4 million cubic yards on December 25,2008. The spill covered surrounding land with up to six feet of sludge, as of June 2009, six months following the spill, only 3% of the spill had been cleaned and is now estimated to cost between $675 and $975 million to clean, according to the TVA. Once the particulate matter out, it is dredged to drying cells. The dredge cell was surrounded by 60-foot tall earthen walls, which had developed leaks since 2002. It also washed out a road, ruptured a major gas line, obstructed a rail line, downed trees, broke a water main, though 22 residences were evacuated, nobody was reported to be injured or in need of hospitalization. The 1.1 billion US gallons of sludge were enough to fill 1,660 Olympic-size swimming pools, and the volume released was about 101 times larger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The New York Times noted that the amount spilled is larger than the amount stated to have been in the pond before the spill, a discrepancy the TVA was unable to explain. The containment area affected was one of three, the two stayed intact, while only the retaining wall for the 84-acre solid waste containment area was affected. The spill killed a number of fish, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Although residents feared water contamination, early tests of six miles upstream of the ash flow showed that the public water supply met drinking water standards. A test of water near the spill showed elevated levels of lead and thallium. The Kingston Fossil Plant received a total of 6.48 inches of rain between December 1 and December 22, plus 1.16 inches on November 29 and 30. This rain combined with 12 °F temperatures were identified by TVA as factors that contributed to the failure of the earthen embankment, an October 2008 inspection report had identified a minor leak in the faulty wall, but the report was not finalized. Local residents said that the spill was not a unique occurrence, the 1960s-era pond had been observed leaking, a TVA news release confirmed that there had been two prior cases of seepage, in 2003 and 2006. TVA spokesman Gil Francis Jr. said that the TVA was taking steps to stabilize runoff from this incident. In response to a video that showed dead fish on the Clinch River and he continued by saying that it does have some heavy metals within it, but its not toxic or anything
Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill
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Aerial photograph of site taken the day after the event
Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill
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A collapsed house inundated by the spill.
Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill
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The confluence of the Clinch and Emory Rivers, with the Kingston Fossil Plant in the distance, five days after the spill. The white foam floating on the water consists of
cenospheres, which are a component of the ash.
Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill
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A 25-foot (7.6 m) wall of ash approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) from the retention pond
6.
Martin County coal slurry spill
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The slurry came out of the mine openings, sending an estimated 306,000,000 US gallons of slurry down two tributaries of the Tug Fork River. By morning, Wolf Creek was oozing with the waste, on Coldwater Fork. The spill was over five feet deep in places and covered nearby residents yards, the spill polluted hundreds of miles of the Big Sandy River and its tributaries and the Ohio River. The water supply for over 27,000 residents was contaminated, the spill was exceeded in volume by the Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill in 2008. U. S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, wife of Sen. Mitch McConnell, oversaw the Mine Safety, in 2002, a $5,600 fine was levied. Massey Energy spent $46 million in cleanup efforts and an additional $3 million in local fines, in the wake of the Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill, Appalshop provided a web stream of Sludge for a limited time. Buffalo Creek Flood Mountaintop removal mining Sludge slinging - article about mining engineer Jack Spadaro who has dedicated his life to preventing coal sludge spills A Toxic Cover-Up, - article about Jack Spadaro and the Martin County sludge spill. Internal Review of MSHAs Actions At the Big Branch Refuse Impoundment
Martin County coal slurry spill
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Wolf Creek on 22 October 2000.
7.
2015 Gold King Mine waste water spill
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They caused the accident while attempting to drain ponded water near the entrance of the mine on August 5. The maintenance by the EPA was necessary because local jurisdictions had previously refused Superfund money to fully remediate the regions derelict mines, after the spill, the Silverton Board of Trustees and the San Juan County Commission approved a joint resolution seeking Superfund money. Governor of Colorado John Hickenlooper declared the area a disaster zone. The spill affects waterways of municipalities in the states of Colorado, New Mexico, as of August 11, acidic water continued to spill at a rate of 500–700 US gal/min while remediation efforts were underway. Gold mining in the hills around Gold King was the income and economy for the region until 1991. The Gold King Mine was abandoned in 1923, other plant and animal species were also adversely affected in the watershed before the Gold King Mine breach. Many abandoned mines throughout Colorado are known to have problems with acid mine drainage, at the time of the accident, the EPA was working at the Gold King Mine to stem the leaking mine water going into Cement Creek. Water was accumulating behind a plug at the mines entrance and they planned to add pipes that would allow the slow release and treatment of that water before it backed up enough to blow out. Unknown to the crew, the tunnel behind the plug was already full of pressurized water. It burst through the plug soon after excavation began, in the 1990s, sections of the Animas had been nominated by the EPA as a Superfund site for clean-up of pollutants from the Gold King Mine and other mining operations along the river. Lack of community support prevented its listing, under the law, the EPA had authority to do only minor work to abate environmental impacts of the mine. Locals had feared that classifying this as a Superfund site would reduce tourism in the area, the Gold Kings adits were dry for most of the mines recent history, as the area was being drained from below by the Sunnyside Mines American Tunnel. As part of a plan, the American Tunnel was sealed up in 1996. In the absence of drainage, by 2002 a new discharge of particularly contaminated water had begun to flow from the Gold King Level 7 adit, flow there increased again after the nearby Mogul Mine was sealed by its owners in 2003. In 2006, a measurement of flow from this adit showed a peak of 314 gallons per minute. The significance of this figure is unclear since flow was not being logged continuously, by this time, the Gold King was considered one of the worst acid mine drainage sites in Colorado. This work was complicated by partial collapse of the tunnel near the entrance. It was noted that the system might not be sufficient to prevent a future blowout
2015 Gold King Mine waste water spill
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Entrance to Gold King Mine from EPA site management web site. This is the
adit known as Gold King 7 Level.
2015 Gold King Mine waste water spill
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The Animas River between Silverton and
Durango within 24 hours of the spill.
2015 Gold King Mine waste water spill
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A map of the
San Juan River watershed, which drains into the Colorado river, showing the northern tributary of the
Animas River
2015 Gold King Mine waste water spill
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Emergency tailing ponds constructed in response to the 2015 Gold King Mine Spill, pictured on August 7
8.
Woburn, Massachusetts
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Woburn /ˈwuːbərn/ is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA. The population was 38,120 at the 2010 census, Woburn is located 9 miles north of Boston, Massachusetts, and just south of the intersection of I-93 and I-95. Woburn was first settled in 1640 near Horn Pond, a source of the Mystic River. At that time the area included present day towns of Woburn, Winchester, Burlington, in 1730 Wilmington separated from Woburn. In 1799 Burlington separated from Woburn, in 1850 Winchester did so, Woburn got its name from Woburn, Bedfordshire. Woburn played host to the first religious ordination in the Americas on Nov.22,1642, rev. Edward Johnson co-founder of the church and town of Woburn. Johnson is regarded as the father of Woburn and he served as the first town clerk, represented the town in the Massachusetts General Court, made the first map of Massachusetts, and wrote the first history of the colony. The first organizational Town Meeting was held on April 13,1644, Town Selectmen were Edward Johnson, Edward Convers, John Mousall, William Learned, Ezekiel Richardson, Samuel Richardson and James Thompson. William Learned was also selected as Constable, michael Bacon, Ralph Hill, Thomas Richardson were chosen as Surveyors of Highways. Deacon Edward Convers was also one of the founders of Woburn and he was one of its first selectmen, and built the first house and first mill in Woburn. He was very active in affairs and was a large landowner, miller. Cummings Properties, the holder of commercial properties in the region, was founded in 1970. Cummings Foundation was established in 1986, Cummings Foundation purchased the former Choate Memorial Hospital site and turned it into the New Horizons of Choate senior living community in 1990. Community Weeklies Inc. was founded by William S. Cummings, the firm was bought by a division of Fidelity Investments in 1994, and Woburn Advocate is now being published by GateHouse Media. Middlesex Superior Courthouse moved to TradeCenter 128 business campus in 2008, the final phase of construction is completed on TradeCenter 128 business campus in 2010. Woburn Police Officer John B. Maguire was killed in the line of duty while responding to a robbery on December 26,2010. Massachusetts Biotechnology Council awarded Woburn the platinum-level Bio-Ready community designation in 2011, Woburn was the scene of a high-profile water contamination crisis. During the mid to late 1970s, the community became concerned over the high incidence of childhood leukemia and other illnesses
Woburn, Massachusetts
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Benjamin Thompson House, Woburn, Massachusetts
Woburn, Massachusetts
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Statue of Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford) outside the library of his hometown, Woburn, Massachusetts (A copy of the original in Munich)
Woburn, Massachusetts
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The 1790 House
Woburn, Massachusetts
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Baldwin House, Woburn, Massachusetts with a stretch of the
Middlesex Canal in foreground
9.
Ohio River
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The Ohio River, which streams westward from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Cairo, Illinois, is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River in the United States. The 981-mile river flows through or along the border of six states, through its largest tributary, the Tennessee River, the basin includes many of the states of the southeastern U. S. It is the source of drinking water for three million people and it is named in Iroquoian or Seneca, Ohi, yó, lit. Good River or Shawnee, Pelewathiipi and Spelewathiipi, the river had great significance in the history of the Native Americans, as numerous civilizations formed along its valley. For thousands of years, Native Americans used the river as a major transportation, in 1669, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle led a French expedition to the Ohio River, becoming the first Europeans to see it. After European-American settlement, the served as a border between present-day Kentucky and Indian Territories. It was a transportation route for pioneers during the westward expansion of the early U. S. In his Notes on the State of Virginia published in 1781–82, Thomas Jefferson stated and its current gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth and unbroken by rocks and rapids, a single instance only excepted. During the 19th century, the river was the boundary of the Northwest Territory. Where the river was narrow, it was the way to freedom for thousands of slaves escaping to the North, many helped by free blacks and whites of the Underground Railroad resistance movement. The Ohio River is a transition area, as its water runs along the periphery of the humid subtropical. It is inhabited by fauna and flora of both climates, in winter, it regularly freezes over at Pittsburgh but rarely further south toward Cincinnati and Louisville. At Paducah, Kentucky, in the south, near the Ohios confluence with the Mississippi, Paducah was founded there because it is the northernmost ice-free reach of the Ohio. The Ohio River is formed by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers at Point State Park in Pittsburgh, from there, it flows northwest through Allegheny and Beaver counties, before making an abrupt turn to the south-southwest at the West Virginia–Ohio–Pennsylvania triple-state line. From there, it forms the border between West Virginia and Ohio, upstream of Wheeling, West Virginia, the river then follows a roughly southwest and then west-northwest course until Cincinnati, before bending to a west-southwest course for most of its length. The course forms the borders of West Virginia and Kentucky. The Ohio drains parts of 15 states in four regions, northeast New York, a small area of the southern border along the headwaters of the Allegheny. Pennsylvania, a corridor from the corner to north central border
Ohio River
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The widest point on the Ohio River is just west of
Downtown Louisville, where it is one mile (1.6 km) wide
Ohio River
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Ohio River basin
Ohio River
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The
Allegheny River, left, and
Monongahela River join to form the Ohio River at
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the largest metropolitan area on the river.
Ohio River
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The 1849
Wheeling Suspension Bridge was the first bridge across the river.
10.
Onondaga Lake
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Onondaga Lake is a lake in Central New York located northwest of Syracuse, New York. The southeastern end of the lake and the southwestern shore abut industrial areas and expressways, although it is near the Finger Lakes region, it is not traditionally counted as one of the Finger Lakes. Onondaga Lake is a lake, meaning that the lake water completely mixes from top to bottom twice a year. The lake is 4.6 miles long and 1 mile wide making an area of 4.6 square miles. The maximum depth of the lake is 63 feet with a depth of 35 feet. Onondaga Lake has two tributaries that contribute approximately 70% of the total water flow to the lake. These tributaries are, Ninemile Creek and Onondaga Creek, the Metropolitan Syracuse Wastewater Treatment Plant contributes 20% of the annual flow. No other lake in the United States receives as much of its inflow as treated wastewater. The other tributaries, which include Ley Creek, Bloody Brook, Harbor Brook, Sawmill Creek, Tributary 5A, the tributaries flush the lake out about four times a year. Onondaga Lake is flushed much more rapidly than most other lakes, the lake flows to the northwest and discharges into Seneca River which combines with the Oneida River to form the Oswego River, and ultimately ends up in Lake Ontario. The lake is considered sacred within the territory of the Onondaga Nation. The Onondaga people lost control of the lake to New York State following the American Revolutionary War, during the late 19th century, European-Americans built many resorts along the lakes shoreline, as it was a destination of great beauty. The Onondaga Nation still has religious and cultural on the Shores of the Lake today, with the industrialization of the region, much of the lakes shoreline was developed, domestic and industrial waste, due to industry and urbanization, led to the severe degradation of the lake. Unsafe levels of pollution led to the banning of ice harvesting as early as 1901, in 1940, swimming was banned, and in 1970 fishing was banned due to mercury contamination. Mercury pollution is still a problem for the lake today, despite the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1973 and the closing of the major industrial polluter in 1986, Onondaga Lake is still one of the most polluted lakes in the United States. Several initiatives, including a 15-year multi-stage program currently under way, have recently undertaken to clean up the lake. Onondaga Lake is traditionally regarded as the birthplace of the Haudenosaunee, the Great Peacemaker brought together the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca nations on the shores of the lake. These warring nations accepted the Great Peacemakers message of peace, laid down their weapons, since then, the lake has become a sacred place
Onondaga Lake
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Onondaga Lake
Onondaga Lake
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Onondaga Lake motor boat ride by moonlight about 1907
Onondaga Lake
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Salt Wells at Syracuse, New York c. 1900
Onondaga Lake
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Onondaga Lake Yacht Club in 1907
11.
Aliso Creek (Orange County)
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Aliso Creek is a 19-mile -long urban stream that runs through Orange County in the U. S. state of California from the Santa Ana Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, collecting seven main tributaries. The creek is channelized, and as of 2004, the 30. 4-square-mile watershed had a population of 149,000 divided among seven incorporated cities. The creek flows generally south-southwest through a narrow coastal watershed at the extreme end of the arid Los Angeles Basin in a fairly straight course. Owing to the submersion of Southern California in the Pacific Ocean as recently as 10 million years ago, the name was given to the creek by Spanish explorers in the 18th century, although there are now many places in California that use the name. Historically, the served as the boundary between the Juaneño and Gabrieleño Indians. The creeks watershed then became a portion of the 1842 Rancho Niguel Mexican Land Grant to Juan Avila. Although attempts to use the creek and its watershed as a water source date to the early 20th century. As a result, the creek became neglected throughout the part of the century. Despite this general decline, the Aliso Creek watershed still supports some biodiversity, pollution continues to be a major problem for the creek—the subject of many water quality and feasibility studies—but, as with many other Orange County streams, little has been done to correct it. The Native American name for Aliso Creek has almost certainly been lost, the current name of Aliso Creek was given by Spanish conquistadors sometime between the 1750s and the 1800s. The word aliso means alder tree in Spanish, and likely refers to the vegetation that lines the creek especially near its mouth. The California sycamore, Platanus racemosa, is known as aliso in Spanish. Other derivatives for Aliso Creeks name have arisen since then—including Los Alisos Creek, several nearby geographical features also are named for the creek, including Aliso Peak, a 683-foot headland. A middle school in the Saddleback Valley Unified School District, Los Alisos Intermediate School, the creek is also the namesake of Aliso Creek Road, which crosses the creek once and only parallels it for a short length. The city of Aliso Viejo and several communities that lie near the stream also share their name with the creek. Aliso Creek rises in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains, near the community of Portola Hills, part of Lake Forest, the Loma Ridge rises about 1,500 feet above the creeks headwaters, which are at an elevation of 2,300 feet. There is no pond, lake or spring at the ultimate source. The creek then continues generally southwest for 19 miles to the Pacific Ocean at Laguna Beach, collecting water from seven major tributaries and over forty minor drains, for much of its course, the creek is channelized and confined by urban development
Aliso Creek (Orange County)
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Aliso Creek flows underneath the Aliso Creek Road bridge before it enters
Aliso and Wood Canyons Regional Park.
Aliso Creek (Orange County)
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The upstream portions of Aliso Creek (here shown while flowing) are relatively pristine in comparison with the downstream segments.
Aliso Creek (Orange County)
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Aerial shot of the emptied lagoon
Aliso Creek (Orange County)
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Aliso Creek empties into a sandy lagoon at its mouth in Laguna Beach. Due to tides and erosion, its mouth is ever-changing.
12.
Bubbly Creek
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Bubbly Creek is the nickname given to the South Fork of the Chicago Rivers South Branch, which runs entirely within the city of Chicago, Illinois, U. S. It marks the boundary between the Bridgeport and McKinley Park community areas of the city and it was brought to notoriety by Upton Sinclair in his exposé on the American meat packing industry entitled The Jungle. The South Fork became a sewer for the local stockyards. Meatpackers dumped waste, such as blood and entrails, into the nearest river, the creek received so much blood and offal that it began to bubble methane and hydrogen sulfide gas from the products of decomposition. In 1906, author Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle, a portrait of Americas meat packing industry. Areas near the creek have been designated for recreational uses including parks, and developers, however, during heavy rains, millions of gallons of wastewater continue to be dumped into the stagnant creek by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. The creeks waters are largely stagnant, having little gravitational flow, the actual renovation project is expected to cost $15.4 million. In 2015, the project was stalled, due to contamination discovered in the creeks sediments, archived page for the Bubbly Creek Proposed Restoration
Bubbly Creek
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headwaters of Bubbly Creek and the Racine Avenue Pump Station
Bubbly Creek
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A man standing on waste in Bubbly Creek in Chicago in 1911.
Bubbly Creek
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Bubbly Creek and Bridgeport Village
13.
Duwamish River
–
The Duwamish River is the name of the lower 12 miles of Washington states Green River. Its industrialized estuary is known as the Duwamish Waterway, the native Lushootseed name of the Duwamish River was Dxwdəw. The Lushootseed name of the Duwamish tribe was DxwDəw. Abš or DkhwDuwAbsh, both of these have been anglicized as Duwamish. Until 1906, the White and Green Rivers combined at Auburn, in 1906, however, the White River changed course following a major flood and emptied into the Puyallup River as it does today. The lower portion of the historic White River—from the historic confluence of the White, later, in 1911 the Cedar River was diverted to empty into Lake Washington instead of into the Black River, at that time, the lake itself still emptied into the Black River. Then, with the opening of the Lake Washington Ship Canal in 1916, the level dropped nearly nine feet. From that time forward, the point of the change from Green to Duwamish is no longer the confluence of the Green and Black Rivers. The Duwamish Waterway empties into Elliott Bay in Seattle, after the completion of the man-made Harbor Island in 1909, the mouth of the river was divided into two channels, the East and West Waterways. When the first European-Americans arrived in the area in 1851, they found the Dkhw’Duw’Absh people living in more than 90 longhouses, in at least 17 villages, in modern-day Seattle and environs. Radiocarbon-dating of artifacts indicates that indigenous tribes have lived along the Duwamish since at least the Sixth Century AD. The Dkhw’Duw’Absh traditionally used the river to hunt ducks and geese, fish for salmon, cod, and halibut, harvest clams, and gather berries, camas, and other plants for food and medicinal purposes. Native villages on the Duwamish were eventually supplanted by white settlement and commercial use, the last year-round native residents on the river - an old man named Seetoowathl, and his wife - died of starvation in their float-house on Kellogg Island in the winter of 1920. In 1909 the City of Seattle formed the Duwamish Waterway Commission in order to sell bonds, work began in October,1913, and the oxbows gradually disappeared, with a few recesses in the channel left to accommodate high water flows and turning ships. By 1920, 4½ miles of the Duwamish Waterway had been dredged to a depth of 50 feet, with 20 million cubic feet of mud, the shallow, meandering, nine-mile-long river became a five-mile engineered waterway capable of handling ocean-going vessels. The Duwamish basin soon became Seattles industrial and commercial core area, Boeing Plant 1 was established on the Lower Duwamish in 1916, and Boeing Plant 2, further upriver, in 1936. The lower waterway is spanned by four major, public bridges, the First Avenue South Bridge, the South Park Bridge, the Spokane Street Bridge, and, directly above the latter, the West Seattle Bridge. With the spread of ecological concerns in the 1970s, various environmental, tribal, cleanup and restoration efforts are ongoing. Due to 20th century industrial contamination, the lower 5 miles of the Duwamish was declared a Superfund site by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the contaminants include PCBs, PAHs, mercury, and phthalates
Duwamish River
–
The lower Duwamish Waterway and the
First Avenue South Bridge (
State Route 99), looking north. Slips 1, 2, and 3 can be seen on the eastern bank. Kellogg Island is the crescent-shaped island in the upper right portion. Terminal 115 is located in the central portion
Duwamish River
–
This 1909 topographical map of Greater Seattle shows the old route of the Duwamish (lower center).
Duwamish River
–
The
Green River at Tukwila, slightly upstream of where it becomes the Duwamish.
Duwamish River
–
The Duwamish at South Park, Seattle
14.
Houston Ship Channel
–
The Houston Ship Channel, in Houston, Texas, is part of the Port of Houston, one of the USs busiest seaports. The channel is the conduit for ocean-going vessels between Houston-area terminals and the Gulf of Mexico, and it serves a volume of inland barge traffic. The channel is a widened and deepened natural watercourse created by dredging Buffalo Bayou, major products, such as petrochemicals and Midwestern grain, are transported in bulk together with general cargo. The original watercourse for the channel, Buffalo Bayou, has its headwaters 30 miles to the west of the city of Houston, the navigational head of the channel, the most upstream point to which general cargo ships can travel, is at Turning Basin in east Houston. The channel has numerous terminals and berthing locations along Buffalo Bayou, the major public terminals include Turning Basin, Barbours Cut, and Bayport. Many private docks are there, as well, including the ExxonMobil Baytown Complex, the channel, periodically widened and deepened to accommodate ever-larger ships, is 530 feet wide by 45 feet deep by 50 miles long. The islands in the channel are part of the ongoing widening and deepening project. The islands are formed from soil pulled up by dredging, the channel has been used to move goods to the sea since at least 1836. Buffalo Bayou and Galveston Bay were dredged during the late 19th, by the mid 1900s the Port of Houston had established itself as the leading port in Texas eclipsing the natural harbors at Galveston and Texas City. The Turning Basin terminal in Harrisburg became the ports largest shipping point. On January 10,1910, residents of Harris County voted 16 to 1 to fund dredging the Houston ship channel to a depth of 25 feet for the amount of $1,250,000, which was then matched by federal funds. On June 14,1914 the first deepwater ship, steamship Satilla, arrived at the port of Houston, on November 10,1914, President Woodrow Wilson opened the Houston Ship Channel, part of the Port of Houston. The onset of World War I and the first mechanized wars thirst for oil greatly increased use of the ship channel, the United States Army Corps of Engineers increased the depth of the channel from 25 to 30 feet in 1922. The Public Works Administration provided $2,800,000 dollars for the project, now the channel and surrounding area support the second-largest petrochemical complex in the world. While much of the Houston Ship Channel is associated with heavy industry, the USS Texas saw service during both world wars, and is the oldest remaining example of a dreadnought-era battleship in existence. The nearby San Jacinto Monument commemorates the Battle of San Jacinto in which Texas won its independence from Mexico, the US Armys San Jacinto Ordnance Depot was located on the channel from 1941–1964. Currently, the channel is dredged to a depth of 43–45 feet, the channel was designated a National Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1987. The “Texas chicken” maneuver is known to mariners who regularly navigate large vessels on the Houston Ship Channel
Houston Ship Channel
–
The Buffalo Bayou portion of the Houston Ship Channel
Houston Ship Channel
–
San Jacinto River in Channel - inset (white line top left) magnified as bottom photo showing the
Texas and
San Jacinto Monument
Houston Ship Channel
–
Drawing of ship at port 1859
Houston Ship Channel
–
The Houston Ship Channel during its first opening in 1915
15.
Housatonic River
–
The Housatonic River is a river, approximately 149 miles long, in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United States. It flows south to southeast, and drains about 1,950 square miles of southwestern Connecticut into Long Island Sound and its watershed is just to the west of the watershed of the lower Connecticut River. Birds and fish who live in and around the river contain significant levels of PCBs, indigenous people began using the river area for fishing and hunting at least 6,000 years ago. By 1600, the inhabitants were mostly Mohicans and may have numbered 30,000, the rivers name is derived from the Mohican phrase usi-a-di-en-uk, translated as beyond the mountain place or river of the mountain place. It is referred to in the deed by which a group of twelve colonists called The Proprietors captured the now called Sherman. It was referred to by Samuel Orcutt as more properly the Howsatunnuck, the river was also known as the Potatuck or the river of the falls until the 18th century. The river passes through land that was occupied primarily by native people of Algonquian lineage. These native inhabitants burned the forests along the Housatonic Valley in the autumn to keep the underbrush down, a practice which was customary throughout Connecticut prior to European settlement. One notable native was Chief Squantz of the Schaghticoke tribe, who hold a portion of the former reservation on the west side of the Housatonic River. English settlement of the northern Housatonic Valley began in 1725 in Sheffield, by 1734, Mohicans established the Indian Town of Stockbridge, which grew over 15 years but then failed, with land pressures increasing. The river has been a source of power for paper, iron, textiles, at Great Barrington, a grist mill built by David Ingersoll in 1739 used the river for power. The paper industry grew using the power from circa 1800. The river was dammed with the advent of industry, in 1900, there were 30 dams on the river in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The town of Stockbridge is located in southwestern Massachusetts, the river enters Stockbridge on the east side of town before turning south toward Connecticut. There is an American nuclear weapon test of the same name, the United States Navy named a ship for the Housatonic River. The USS Housatonic has the distinction of being the first ship in history to be sunk by a submarine, three wooden covered bridges cross the Housatonic River. Two are in Connecticut, one known as Bulls Bridge, which spans the river between Gaylordsville and Kent, and another at Cornwall, known as the West Cornwall Covered Bridge. Reinforced with present-day materials, both bridges carry vehicle traffic, albeit in only one direction at a time
Housatonic River
–
View of Housatonic River from Bull's Bridge in
Kent, Connecticut.
Housatonic River
Housatonic River
–
View of the "fly fishing and paddling" section of the river during a snowstorm. Surrounding forests are still wild and support animal life despite the threat of suburban encroachment.
16.
Hudson River
–
The Hudson River is a 315-mile river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York in the United States. The river originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York, flows through the Hudson Valley, the river serves as a political boundary between the states of New Jersey and New York, and further north between New York counties. The lower half of the river is a tidal estuary occupying the Hudson Fjord, tidal waters influence the Hudsons flow from as far north as Troy. The river is named after Henry Hudson, an Englishman sailing for the Dutch East India Company, who explored it in 1609, and after whom Canadas Hudson Bay is also named. The Dutch called the river the North River – with the Delaware River called the South River –, during the eighteenth century, the river valley and its inhabitants were the subject and inspiration of Washington Irving, the first internationally acclaimed American author. In the nineteenth century, the area inspired the Hudson River School of landscape painting, the Hudson was also the eastern outlet for the Erie Canal, which, when completed in 1825, became an important transportation artery for the early-19th-century United States. The source of the Hudson River is Lake Tear of the Clouds in the Adirondack Park at an altitude of 4,322 feet, the river is not cartographically called the Hudson River until miles downstream. From that point on, the stream is known as the Hudson River. Popular culture and convention, however, more often cite the photogenic Lake Tear of the Clouds as the source, South of the confluence of Indian Pass Brook and Calamity Brook, the Hudson River flows south into Sanford Lake. South of the outlet of the lake, the Opalescent River flows into the Hudson, the Hudson then flows south, taking in Beaver Brook and the outlet of Lake Harris. After its confluence with the Indian River, the Hudson forms the boundary between Essex and Hamilton counties, in the hamlet of North River, the Hudson flows entirely in Warren County and takes in the Schroon River. Further south, the forms the boundary between Warren and Saratoga Counties. The river then takes in the Sacandaga River from the Great Sacandaga Lake, shortly thereafter, the river leaves the Adirondack Park, flows under Interstate 87, and through Glens Falls, just south of Lake George although receiving no streamflow from the lake. It next goes through Hudson Falls, at this point the river forms the boundary between Washington and Saratoga Counties. At this point the river has an altitude of 200 feet, further south the Hudson takes in water from the Batten Kill River and Fish Creek near Schuylerville. The river then forms the boundary between Saratoga and Rensselaer counties, the river then enters the heart of the Capital District. It takes in water from the Hoosic River, which extends into Massachusetts, shortly thereafter the river has its confluence with the Mohawk River, the largest tributary of the Hudson River, in Waterford. Shortly thereafter, the river reaches the Federal Dam in Troy, at an elevation of 2 feet, the bottom of the dam marks the beginning of the tidal influence in the Hudson as well as the beginning of the lower Hudson River
Hudson River
–
The
Bear Mountain Bridge across the Hudson River as seen from
Bear Mountain
Hudson River
–
The river from the
Poughkeepsie Bridge
Hudson River
–
The river between
Midtown Manhattan (foreground) and
Weehawken, New Jersey (background)
Hudson River
–
The bulk carrier Nord Angel breaking ice on the Hudson
17.
Kamilo Beach
–
Kamilo Beach, is a beach located on the southeast coast of the island of Hawaii. It is known for its accumulation of marine debris from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. In ancient times, Kamilo Beach was a location where Native Hawaiians would go to large evergreen logs, drifted ashore from the Pacific Northwest. It was also a location where those who were lost at sea might eventually wash ashore, Kamilo Beach is approximately 1,500 feet long, and is located on the remote southeast coast of the Kaʻū District on the island of Hawaii, at coordinates 18°58′13″N 155°35′59″W. There are no paved roads to the beach and this beach, situated on a lower lava terrace, is a storm beach. It was formed by the deposit of large amounts of sand blown by prevailing winds, at the point of Kamilo, waves have cut a large indentation, creating a variety of rocky points, ponds, and channels. Most of these are exposed during low tides, and are awash during high tides, the debris is situated on the narrow, crescent-shaped strip of white sand, formed along the inland border of this area. The beach is a zone for plastic trash. The debris is forced onto the beach by constant trade winds, the backshore at Kamilo contains such vegetation as naupaka, milo, and ironwood. The accumulated garbage that covers Kamilo Beach and an adjacent 2.8 miles of consists of 90% plastic. Much of the debris is made from plastic pellets, either pre-production nurdles or pellets created from larger plastic items breaking down into smaller pieces, Wildlife in the area has suffered significant damage due to the on- and off-shore garbage. Fishing debris, such as discarded fishing nets and lines, drowns, strangles, some types of plastic and their constituents, such as bisphenol A, bis phthalate, and polystyrene, leach carcinogenic or poisonous chemicals when they break down. Others absorb toxins such as DDT and polychlorinated biphenyls from their surroundings and these toxins are absorbed by animals when consumed. Multiple community-based cleanup efforts have taken place on Kamilo Beach in recent years, prior to these efforts, the debris was 8 to 10 feet high in some places. In 2003, the Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund organized 100 volunteers and removed over 50 tons of fishing nets, list of beaches in Hawaii Marine debris Marine pollution Handy, Edward Smith Craighill, Elizabeth Green Handy, Mary Kawena Pukui. Native Planters in Old Hawaii, Their Life, Lore, honolulu, Bishop Museum Press, Revised edition
Kamilo Beach
–
Marine debris on Kamilo Beach, Hawaii
Kamilo Beach
–
A young bird that was fed plastic by its parents and was unable to eject it, resulting in its death by either starvation or choking
18.
Love Canal
–
Love Canal is a neighborhood within Niagara Falls, New York. Originally intended as a planned community, Love Canal served as a residential place before being purchased by Hooker Chemical Company. After its sale to the school district, Love Canal attracted national attention for the public health problem originated from the massive dumping of toxic waste on the grounds. This event displaced numerous families, leaving them with long-standing health issues and symptoms of high red blood cell counts, consequently, the federal government passed the Superfund law. The resulting cleanup operation under the Superfund law demolished the neighborhood, New York State Health Department Commissioner David Axelrod calls the Love Canal incident a national symbol of a failure to exercise a sense of concern for future generations. The Love Canal incident was especially significant as a situation where the inhabitants overflowed into the wastes instead of the way around. Love Canal is a located in the city of Niagara Falls in the northwestern region of New York state. Bergholtz Creek defines the border with the Niagara River marking the southern border one-quarter mile away. The LaSalle Expressway splits an uninhabited portion of the south from the north, the canal covers 16 acres of land in the central eastern portion. In 1890, William T. Love, an entrepreneur from the Western Railroad Corporation. He prepared plans to construct a community of parks and residences on the banks of Lake Ontario and he gave his name to the ensuing project, envisioning a perfect urban area. After 1892, Loves plan incorporated a shipping lane that would bypass the Niagara Falls, Love quickly lined up backing from financial banks and giants in New York City, Chicago and England. In October 1893, the first factory opened for business, in May 1894, work on the canal had begun. Steel companies and other manufacturers lined up for the chance of opening plants along the Love Canal and he began digging the canal and built a few streets and houses. However, the Panic of 1893 caused investors to drop sponsorship of the project, in addition, Congress passed a law barring the removal of water from the Niagara River, to preserve Niagara Falls. Only one mile of the canal was dug, about 50 feet wide and 10 to 40 feet deep, unfortunately, the Panic of 1907 proved economically disastrous as Love had to abandon the project. The deathblow came with the development of the electrical power economically over great distances by means of an alternating current. No longer was it necessary for industry to locate near the source of electrical power and his financial backers deserted him, and the last piece of the properties owned by his corporation was subjected to mortgage foreclosure and sold at public auction in 1910
Love Canal
–
The Love Canal site in 2012
Love Canal
–
Hooker Electrochemical Quit Claim Deed to Board of Education
Love Canal
–
A protest by Love Canal residents, ca. 1978.
Love Canal
–
Evacuated house in the Love Canal, windows boarded up and damaged by the environment.
19.
Newark Bay
–
Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, an estuary, it is periodically dredged to accommodate ocean-going ships. Newark Bay is rectangular, approximately 5.5 miles long, varying in width from 0.6 to 1.2 miles and it is enclosed on the west by the cities of Newark and Elizabeth, and on the east by Jersey City and Bayonne. At the south is Staten Island, New York and at the north Kearny Point, shooters Island is a bird sanctuary where the borders of Staten Island, Bayonne and Elizabeth meet at one point. The southern tip of Bergen Neck, known as Bergen Point, juts into the bay, built offshore in 1849 it was demolished and replaced with a skeletal tower in the mid 20th century. The Atlantic Ocean at Sandy Hook and Rockaway Point is approximately 11 miles away, Newark Bay is connected to Upper New York Bay by the Kill Van Kull and to Raritan Bay by the Arthur Kill. The names of the channels reflect the period of Dutch colonialization, the area around the bay was called Achter Kol, which translates as behind or beyond the ridge and refers to Bergen Hill. The emergence of the Hudson Palisades begins on Bergen Neck, the peninsula between the bay and the Hudson River, Kill in Dutch means stream or channel. During the British colonial era the bay was known as Cull bay, Kill van Kull literally translates as channel from the ridge. Arthur Kill is an anglicisation of achter kill meaning back channel, the Upper Bay Bridge is a vertical lift bridge north of the Casciano that is now used by CSX Transportation for freight shipment, including the notable Juice Train. Central Railroad of New Jerseys Newark Bay Bridge crossed the bay from 1864 to connect its Communipaw Terminal, last used in 1978, it was determined to be a hazard to maritime navigation and demolished in the 1980s. Elizabeth is the site of the first English speaking European settlement in New Jersey, Jersey Gardens, an outlet mall, has been located north of Elizabethport since 1999. There are plans to construct a mixed used community adjacent to it along the bay, the western edge of Newark Bay was originally shallow tidal wetlands covering approximately 12 square miles. In 1910s the City of Newark began excavating an angled shipping channel in the quadrant of the wetland which formed the basis of Port Newark. Work on the channel and terminal facilities on its north side accelerated during World War I, during the war there were close to 25,000 troops stationed at the Newark Bay Shipyard. The City decided to expand the port at the end of the war, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was formed in 1921 and the Newark Bay Channels were authorized by the Rivers and Harbors Acts in 1922. Port Authority took over the operations of Port Newark and the Newark Airport in 1948, in 1958, the Port Authority dredged another shipping channel which straightened the course of Bound Brook, the tidal inlet forming the boundary between Newark and Elizabeth. Dredged materials was used to create new upland south of the new Elizabeth Channel, the Ironbound is an industrial area along the bay which becomes residential farther inland near Downtown Newark
Newark Bay
–
Port Newark is seen in the foreground looking northeast across the bay to
Jersey City and the
Manhattan borough of New York City.
Newark Bay
–
Upper Bay Bridge and
Newark Bay Bridge.
New Jersey Turnpike.
Oak Island Yard and
Port Newark in foreground with
Bayonne and
Staten Island seen in the distance.
Newark Bay
–
The
CRRNJ Newark Bay Bridge, demolished in the 1980s, crossed to
Elizabethport, seen in the distance.
Newark Bay
–
The shoreline at
Bayonne
20.
Newtown Creek
–
Newtown Creek, a 3. 5-mile long tributary of the East River, is an estuary that forms part of the border between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, in New York City. Newtown Creek was proposed as a potential Superfund site in September 2009, the creek begins near the intersection of 47th Street and Grand Avenue on the Brooklyn-Queens border at the intersection of the East Branch and English Kills. It empties into the East River at 2nd Street and 54th Avenue in Long Island City and its waterfront, and that of its tributaries Dutch Kills, Whale Creek, Maspeth Creek and English Kills, are heavily industrialized. Because the surrounded neighborhoods are completely sewerized, the creek has little inflow of natural freshwater. Its outgoing flow of 14 billion US gallons per year consists of combined sewer overflow, urban runoff, raw domestic sewage, the creek is largely stagnant, one cause being the 15-foot-thick layer of polluted sludge that has congealed on the creek bed. The Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, used only for freight west of Jamaica, the creek derives its name from New Town, which was the name for the Dutch and British settlement in what is now Elmhurst, Queens. It drained parts of what are now the neighborhoods of Bushwick, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint in Brooklyn, and Maspeth, Ridgewood, Sunnyside, at the time of the American Revolution, British General Warren had his headquarters along the creek. The Sackett House was inherited by the wife of DeWitt Clinton, more refineries sprang up, including Robert Cheesebroughs for making petroleum jelly, marketed as Vaseline. It is estimated that, in all, these industrial facilities produced 300,000 US gallons of waste material each week, the waste included sludge acid, a tar-like substance which was sold to companies that used it as an ingredient in superphosphate fertilizer. Queens was not yet a part of New York City meant that the citys Board of Health had no jurisdiction there, and the Brooklyn Board of Health sided with the polluters in court. Even a report from The New York Times in 1885 that Standard Oil was dumping sludge acid into the creek, by the end of the 19th century, the Times was reporting that the creek was totally devoid of any lifeforms. The oil industry was centered in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, across the creek, in Laurel Hill, or West Maspeth, Queens, chemical plants and copper smelting facilities did their part in fouling the waterway. Before 1950, bulk-oil storage facilities near the corner of Manhattan Avenue, an underground explosion at the same corner added to the problem. BP, Chevron, and ExxonMobil have since removed half of the spill, about 12,000,000 US gallons, from the creek and surrounding area, the plant closed two years later but the smell of burning animals lingered. In the early 2000s, during the boom, construction companies dumped concrete slurry into the creek. The city fined Empire Transit Mix in 2005 for ridding itself of its slurry through a secret pipe, some off loads of other companies had pH levels equal to household ammonia. Then, in 1967, the city built the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, located on the south bank near the creeks mouth in Greenpoint, the plant handles a large portion of the drainage from the East Side of Manhattan. Normal influx is 120,000,000 US gallons per day, when a significant overflow occurred during the New York City blackout of 1977, the federal government ordered in 1995 that the city build back-up facilities
Newtown Creek
–
The Creek in
Long Island City
Newtown Creek
–
Aerial photograph of Newtown Creek (2013). View looking east.
Newtown Creek
–
Mouth of the Creek, seen from
Pulaski Bridge. Manhattan Avenue Bridge formerly connected Manhattan Avenue on the left bank to Vernon Boulevard
Newtown Creek
–
Whale Creek side of Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant digester tanks
21.
Passaic River
–
The Passaic River is a mature surface river, approximately 80 mi long, in northern New Jersey in the United States. In its lower portion, it flows through the most urbanized and industrialized areas of the state, the lower river suffered from severe pollution and industrial abandonment in the 20th century. In April 2014, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a $1.7 billion plan to remove 4.3 million cubic yards of mud from the bottom of lower eight miles of the river. It is considered one of the most polluted stretches of water in the nation, the Passaic rises in the center of Mendham, in southern Morris County. It begins between Spring Hill and Hardscrabble Road, travelling northeast and crossing Corey Lane before entering the Buck Hill Tract Natural Area, at this point the river begins to generally flow south, through Morristown National Historical Park, and forms the boundary between Morris and Somerset counties. The river passes through a gorge in Millington and then turns abruptly northeast and it forms the boundary between Morris and Union counties as it passes Berkeley Heights, New Providence, and Summit. Near Chatham it turns north, forming the boundary between Morris and Essex counties and it passes Livingston and Fairfield, where it flows through the Hatfield Swamp and is joined by the Rockaway River just after the Whippany River runs into it. The river flows northeast into the city of Paterson, where it drops over the Great Falls of the Passaic. On the north end of Paterson, it turns south, flowing between Paterson and Clifton on the west and Hawthorne, Fair Lawn, Elmwood Park, Garfield on the east. At Elmwood Park it begins to form Dundee Lake, created by the Dundee Dam built in 1845, the river becomes navigable two and a half miles downstream of the Dundee Dam at the Eighth Street/Locust Ave Bridge in Wallington where the dredged Wallington Reach channel begins. Proceeding beyond the Wallington Reach, the river remains navigable via a series of maintained channels to its final destination and it passes Passaic, Clifton again, then Nutley and Belleville on the west, it flows past Rutherford, Lyndhurst and North Arlington to the east. In its lowest reaches, it flows along the northeast portion of the city of Newark on the west, passing Kearny, East Newark, and Harrison, New Jersey on the eastern bank. Near downtown Newark it makes an abrupt easterly bend, then south around Ironbound, joining the Hackensack River at the end of Newark Bay. The Passaic River formed as a result of drainage from a massive lake that formed in Northern New Jersey at the end of the last ice age. That prehistoric lake is now known as Glacial Lake Passaic and was centered in the present lowland swamps of Morris County, eventually the lake level rose high enough that the water flowed out of a new outlet. The Passaic River found a new path to the ocean via the Millington Gorge and the Paterson Falls as the glacier covered the area retreated northward. As a result, the river as we now know it was born, to that end they built weirs, or overflow dams, to create pools and where the fish could be trapped. Many of these sites are still present and, in some cases
Passaic River
–
Passaic River in Bergen and Passaic Counties
Passaic River
Passaic River
–
Flowing between
Summit and
Chatham.
Passaic River
–
The
Bridge Street Bridge spans the Passaic River connecting
Newark and
Harrison
22.
Lake Erie
–
Lake Erie is the fourth-largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the thirteenth-largest globally if measured in terms of surface area. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes, at its deepest point Lake Erie is 210 feet deep. Lake Eries northern shore is bounded by the Canadian province of Ontario, with the U. S. states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and these jurisdictions divide the surface area of the lake by water boundaries. The lake was named by the Erie people, a Native Americans people who lived along its southern shore and that Iroquoian tribe called it Erige because of its unpredictable and sometimes violently dangerous nature. It is a matter of whether the lake was named after the tribe. Situated below Lake Huron, Eries primary inlet is the Detroit River, Lake Erie has a mean elevation of 571 feet above sea level. It has an area of 9,990 square miles with a length of 241 statute miles. The warm summer of 1999 caused lake temperatures to come close to the 85 °F limit necessary to keep the plants cool, also because of its shallowness, and in spite of being the warmest lake in the summer, it is also the first to freeze in the winter. The waves build very quickly, according to other accounts, after being trapped for an hour-and-a-half, Baker was back on dry land, exhausted and battered but alive. This area is known as the thunderstorm capital of Canada with breathtaking lightning displays. Lake Erie is primarily fed by the Detroit River and drains via the Niagara River, navigation downstream is provided by the Welland Canal, part of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Other major contributors to Lake Erie include the Grand River, the Huron River, the Maumee River, the Sandusky River, the Buffalo River, the drainage basin covers 30,140 square miles. Point Pelee National Park, the southernmost point of the Canadian mainland, is located on a peninsula extending into the lake. Several islands are found in the end of the lake, these belong to Ohio except for Pelee Island and eight neighboring islands. Major cities along Lake Erie include Buffalo, Erie, Pennsylvania, Toledo, Ohio, Islands tend to be located in the western side of the lake and total 31 in number. The island-village of Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island attracts young crowds who sometimes wear red hats and are prone to break off cartwheels in the park. Pelee Island is the largest of Eries islands, accessible by ferry from Leamington, Ontario and Sandusky, songbirds migrate to Pelee in spring, and monarch butterflies stop over during the fall. Lake Erie has a retention time of 2.6 years
Lake Erie
–
Lake Erie on January 9, 2014
Lake Erie
–
From a high bluff near
Leamington, Ontario
Lake Erie
–
False-color satellite image of Lake Erie in 2007
Lake Erie
–
Lake Erie: North Shore
23.
Clean Water Act
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The Clean Water Act is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. It is one of the United States first and most influential environmental laws. As with many other major U. S. federal environmental statutes, it is administered by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and its implementing regulations are codified at 40 C. F. R. Subchapters D, N, and O. Technically, the name of the law is the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. The first FWPCA was enacted in 1948, but took on its form when completely rewritten in 1972 in an act entitled the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972. Major changes have subsequently been introduced via amendatory legislation including the Clean Water Act of 1977, the Clean Water Act does not directly address groundwater contamination. Groundwater protection provisions are included in the Safe Drinking Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, all waters with a significant nexus to navigable waters are covered under the CWA, however, the phrase significant nexus remains open to judicial interpretation and considerable controversy. The 1972 statute frequently uses the term navigable waters, but also defines the term as waters of the United States, including the territorial seas. Some regulations interpreting the 1972 law have included features such as intermittent streams, playa lakes, prairie potholes, sloughs. The 1972 act introduced the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, which is a system for regulating point sources of pollution. Municipal governments and other government facilities, and some agricultural facilities, point sources may not discharge pollutants to surface waters without a permit from the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. This system is managed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in partnership with state environmental agencies, EPA has authorized 46 states to issue permits directly to the discharging facilities. The CWA also allows tribes to issue permits, but no tribes have been authorized by EPA, in the remaining states and territories, the permits are issued by an EPA regional office. In previous legislation, Congress had authorized states to develop quality standards. However, these standards were only to be developed for interstate waters, and this system was not effective and there was no permit system in place to enforce the requirements. In the 1972 CWA Congress added the permit system and a requirement for technology-based effluent limitations, the 1972 CWA created a new requirement for technology-based standards for point source discharges. EPA develops these standards for categories of dischargers, based on the performance of pollution control technologies without regard to the conditions of a receiving water body. The intent of Congress was to create a playing field by establishing a basic national discharge standard for all facilities within a category
Clean Water Act
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Clean Water Act
24.
Clean Water State Revolving Fund
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The Clean Water State Revolving Fund is a self-perpetuating loan assistance authority for water quality improvement projects in the United States. The fund is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency and state agencies, congress established the fund in the Water Quality Act of 1987. Since inception, cumulative assistance has surpassed US$65 Billion, and is continuing to grow through interest earnings, principal repayments, all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico operate a CWSRF. The 51 CWSRF programs function like environmental infrastructure banks by distributing low interest rate loans for water quality projects, loan repayments are recycled back into individual CWSRF programs. States can only use the funds to make loans, purchase local debt and they cannot make grants or otherwise dissipate the capital in their funds. Principal repayments plus interest earnings become available to new projects. States can also increase their CWSRF financing capacity by issuing CWSRF-backed revenue or general obligation bonds, to date,27 states have leveraged their programs in this way, raising an additional $20.6 billion for important water quality projects. The 51 funds are capitalized in part by federal and state contributions, for every dollar contributed by the federal government, states contribute 20 cents. Since the first federal capitalization grants in 1988, the federal appropriation to the 51 CWSRF programs has reached over $25 billion. Financial leveraging techniques conducted by state funds have snowballed federal and state contributions into $65 billion as of 2007, since the inaugural CWSRF project was funded in 1988, the 51 state-run CWSRF programs have provided $65 billion in assistance for water quality projects through 20,711 loans. While wastewater treatment projects have comprised 96 percent of all CWSRF funding to date, over $2.6 billion has gone to nonpoint source and estuary projects. The number of agreements for nonpoint source projects has grown significantly over the years. The low cost and flexibility of CWSRF financing has helped the programs serve communities of all sizes, in 2007, two-thirds of all loans went to communities with populations below 3,500. In addition, over $1.1 billion in assistance targeted communities with fewer than 10,000 people, the programs are projected to continue to grow over time, as interest earnings and repayments of loans increase. The demand for CWSRF funds nationwide can be attributed to high needs, low interest rates, the rate of fund utilization has increased steadily since 1988, signaling increased demand for funds as well as efficient state operations. As of 2007,97 percent of all funds were committed to projects. To meet high levels of demand,27 states have chosen to implement leveraging approaches by issuing revenue, through leveraging, states have increased their capacity to finance important water quality projects. 27 CWSRFs leverage their funds to increase the amount of available for loan assistance
Clean Water State Revolving Fund
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Fig. 2 SRF Funding Proportions
Clean Water State Revolving Fund
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Clean Water State Revolving Fund
Clean Water State Revolving Fund
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Fig. 3 Communities Served By CWSRF's
Clean Water State Revolving Fund
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Fig. 4 Cumulative Assistance
25.
Nationwide Urban Runoff Program
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The Nationwide Urban Runoff Program is a research project conducted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency between 1979 and 1983. It was the first comprehensive study of urban stormwater pollution across the United States, coliform bacteria are present at high levels in urban runoff. Nutrients are generally present in urban runoff, but, concentrations do not appear to be high in comparison with other possible discharges. Oxygen demanding substances are present in urban runoff at concentrations approximating those in secondary treatment plant discharges, the physical aspects of urban runoff, e. g. erosion and scour, can be a significant cause of habitat disruption and can affect the type of fishery present. Recharge devices are capable of providing very effective removal of pollutants in urban runoff, wet basins have the greatest performance capabilities. Wetlands are considered to be a technique for control of urban runoff quality. A very interesting finding of the NURP was that street sweeping was considered to be, in 1987, the results of the report were used as the basis of an amendment to the Clean Water Act requiring local governments and industry to address the pollution sources indicated by the report. Clean Water Act Stormwater Water pollution Water quality EPA Stormwater Permit Program EPA Nonpoint Source Management Program City of Chattanooga Stormwater Program
Nationwide Urban Runoff Program
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Map showing locations of 28 NURP projects
26.
Environmental issues in the United States
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Despite taking hundreds of measures, the rate of environmental issues is increasing rapidly instead of reducing. Both Conservationism and Environmentalism appeared in political debates during the Progressive Era in the early 20th century, the laissez-faire position held that owners of private property—including lumber and mining companies, should be allowed to do anything they wished for their property. The Conservationists, led by President Theodore Roosevelt and his close ally Gifford Pinchot, said that the approach was too wasteful. In any case, they noted, most of the resources in the western states were already owned by the federal government. The best course of action, they argued, was a plan devised by national experts to maximize the long-term economic benefits of natural resources. Environmentalism was the position, led by John Muir. Muirs passion for nature made him the most influential American environmentalist, Muir preached that nature was sacred and humans are intruders who should look but not develop. He founded the Sierra Club and remains an icon of the environmentalist movement and he was primarily responsible for defining the environmentalist position, in the debate between Conservation and environmentalism. Environmentalism preached that nature was almost sacred, and that man was an intruder and it allowed for limited tourism, but opposed automobiles in national parks. It strenuously opposed timber cutting on most public lands, and vehemently denounced the dams that Roosevelt supported for water supplies, electricity, especially controversial was the Hetch Hetchy dam in Yosemite National Park, which Roosevelt approved, and which supplies the water supply of San Francisco. The United States is the second largest emitter, after China, the energy policy of the United States is widely debated, many call on the country to take a leading role in fighting global warming. The U. S. is one of two countries that has not signed up to the Kyoto Protocol. Since about 86% of all types of energy used in the United States are derived from fossil fuel consumption it is linked to greenhouse gas emissions. The production and transport of fossil fuels are also tied to significant environmental issues, the last of the passenger pigeons died in 1914 after being the most common bird in North America. They were killed as both a source of food and because they were a threat to farming, saving the bald eagle, the national bird of the U. S. from extinction was a notable conservation success. As of 13 December,2016, the International Union for the Conservation of Natures Red List shows the United States has 1,514 species on its Threatened list. Invasive species are a significant problem, some of the most notable being zebra mussels, Burmese pythons, kudzu, brown tree snakes, economic damages are estimated at $120 billion per year. Forest fires and construction is leading to deforestation, the timbaland forests are on the verge of extinction due to continuous extraction
Environmental issues in the United States
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Per capita anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions by country for the year 2000 including land-use change.
27.
Pollution of the Chesapeake Bay
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It is the largest estuary in North America. With its northern portion in Maryland and the part in Virginia. More than 150 major rivers and streams flow into the bays 64, 299-square-mile drainage basin, the bay is approximately 200 miles long from its northern headwaters in the Susquehanna River to its outlet in the Atlantic Ocean. It is 2.8 miles wide at its narrowest and 30 miles at its widest, total shoreline including tributaries is 11,684 miles, circumnavigating a surface area of 4,479 square miles. Average depth is 21 feet, reaching a maximum of 174 feet, the bay is spanned twice, in Maryland by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge from Sandy Point to Kent Island and in Virginia by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel connecting Virginia Beach to Cape Charles. Known for both its beauty and bounty, the bay became emptier, with crabs, oysters. Recent restoration efforts begun in the 1990s have been ongoing and show potential for growth of the oyster population. The health of the Chesapeake Bay improved in 2015, marking three years of gains over the past four years, according to a new report by the University of Maryland, the word Chesepiooc is an Algonquian word referring to a village at a big river. It is the seventh oldest surviving English place-name in the U. S. first applied as Chesepiook by explorers heading north from the Roanoke Colony into a Chesapeake tributary in 1585 or 1586. The name may refer to the Chesepian or Chesapeake people. They occupied an area which is now the Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, in 2005, Algonquian linguist Blair Rudes helped to dispel one of the areas most widely held beliefs, that Chesapeake means something like great shellfish bay. The name might actually have meant something like great water, or it might have just referred to a location at the bays mouth. In addition, the name is almost always prefixed by the in usage by local residents, The Chesapeake, The Chesapeake Bay, the Chesapeake Bay is an estuary to the North Atlantic, lying between the Delmarva Peninsula to the east and the North American mainland to the west. It is the ria, or drowned valley, of the Susquehanna River and it is not a fjord, because the Laurentide Ice Sheet never reached as far south as the northernmost point on the bay. The large rivers entering the bay from the west have broad mouths and are extensions of the ria for miles up the course of each river. The bay was formed starting about 10,000 years ago when rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age flooded the Susquehanna River valley. Parts of the bay, especially the Calvert County, Maryland and these cliffs, generally known as Calvert Cliffs, are famous for their fossils, especially fossilized shark teeth which are commonly found washed up on the beaches next to the cliffs. Scientists Cliffs is a community in Calvert County named for the desire to create a retreat for scientists when the community was founded in 1935
Pollution of the Chesapeake Bay
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The Chesapeake Bay –
Landsat photo
Pollution of the Chesapeake Bay
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View of the Eastern Bay in Maryland at sunset
Pollution of the Chesapeake Bay
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The
Chesapeake Bay Bridge, near Annapolis, Maryland
Pollution of the Chesapeake Bay
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Food chain diagram for waterbirds of the Chesapeake Bay
28.
Water supply and sanitation in the United States
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Droughts are likely to particularly affect the 66 percent of Americans whose communities depend on surface water. As for drinking water quality, there are concerns about disinfection by-products, lead, perchlorates and pharmaceutical substances, cities, utilities, state governments and the federal government have addressed the above issues in various ways. To keep pace with demand from a population, utilities traditionally have augmented supplies. However, faced with increasing costs and droughts, water conservation is beginning to more attention and is being supported through the federal WaterSense program. The reuse of treated wastewater for non-potable uses is also becoming increasingly common, pollution through wastewater discharges, a major issue in the 1960s, has been brought largely under control. Most Americans are served by publicly owned water and sewer utilities, eleven percent of Americans receive water from private utilities. In rural areas, cooperatives often provide drinking water, finally, up to 15 percent of Americans are served by their own wells. Water supply and wastewater systems are regulated by governments and the federal government. At the state level, health and environmental regulation is entrusted to the corresponding state-level departments, Public Utilities Commissions or Public Service Commissions regulate tariffs charged by private utilities. In some states they also regulate tariffs by public utilities, at the federal level, drinking water quality and wastewater discharges are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency, which also provides funding to utilities through State Revolving Funds. Water consumption in the United States is more than double that in Central Europe, in 2002 the average American family spent $474 on water and sewerage charges, which is about the same level as in Europe. The median household spent about 1.1 percent of its income on water, in the 19th century numerous American cities were afflicted with major outbreaks of disease, including cholera in 1832,1849 and 1866 and typhoid in 1848. The fast-growing cities did not have sewers and relied on contaminated wells within the city confines for drinking water supply, in the mid-19th century many cities built centralized water supply systems. However, initially these systems provided raw river water without any treatment, sewers were built since the 1850s, initially based on the erroneous belief that bad air caused cholera and typhoid. It took until the 1890s for the now universally accepted germ theory of disease to prevail, for decades federal funding for water supply and sanitation was provided through grants to local governments. After 1987 the system was changed to loans through revolving funds, in the 1840s and 1850s the largest cities in the U. S. built pipelines to supply drinking water from rivers or lakes. However, the water was initially not treated, since the link between waterborne pathogens and diseases was not yet well known. In 1842 New York City was one of the first cities in the U. S. to tap water resources outside the city limits and it dammed the Croton River in Westchester County, New York, and built an aqueduct from the reservoir to the city
Water supply and sanitation in the United States
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The
Wachusett Reservoir is a source of drinking water supply for
Boston
Water supply and sanitation in the United States
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Lake Havasu on the
Colorado River is the secondary source of drinking water for
Phoenix, Arizona, supplying about 40% of Phoenix's water supply. 50% comes from the watersheds of the Verde and Salt Rivers, according to the official website of the City of Phoenix Water Services Department.
Los Angeles also obtains a significant percentage of its water supply from Lake Havasu.
Water supply and sanitation in the United States
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The
Schuylkill River provides 40% of the water used in
Philadelphia
Water supply and sanitation in the United States
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Toilets account for 31% of indoor water use in the U.S.
29.
Great Lakes
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Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth, containing 21% of the worlds surface fresh water by volume. The total surface is 94,250 square miles, and the volume is 5,439 cubic miles. Due to their sea-like characteristics the five Great Lakes have also long been referred to as inland seas, Lake Superior is the second largest lake in the world by area, and Lake Michigan is the largest lake that is entirely within one country. The southern half of the Great Lakes is bordered by the Great Lakes Megalopolis, the lakes have been a major highway for transportation, migration and trade, and they are home to a large number of aquatic species. Many invasive species have been introduced due to trade, and some threaten the regions biodiversity, though the five lakes reside in separate basins, they form a single, naturally interconnected body of fresh water, within the Great Lakes Basin. The lakes form a chain connecting the interior of North America to the Atlantic Ocean. From the interior to the outlet at the Saint Lawrence River, water flows from Superior to Huron and Michigan, southward to Erie, the lakes drain a large watershed via many rivers, and are studded with approximately 35,000 islands. There are also several smaller lakes, often called inland lakes. The surface area of the five primary lakes combined is roughly equal to the size of the United Kingdom, while the area of the entire basin is about the size of the UK. Lake Michigan is the one of the Great Lakes that is located entirely within the United States. The lakes are divided among the jurisdictions of the Canadian province of Ontario and the U. S. states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Both Ontario and Michigan include in their boundaries portions of four of the lakes, Ontario does not border Lake Michigan, New York and Wisconsins jurisdictions extend into two lakes, and the remaining states into one of the lakes. This designation, however, is not universal and those living on the shore of Lake Superior often refer to all the other lakes as the lower lakes, because they are farther south. This corresponds to thinking of Lakes Erie and Ontario as down south, vessels sailing north on Lake Michigan are considered upbound even though they are sailing toward its effluent current. The Chicago River and Calumet River systems connect the Great Lakes Basin to the Mississippi River System through man-made alterations, the St. Marys River, including the Soo Locks, connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron. The Straits of Mackinac connect Lake Michigan to Lake Huron, the St. Clair River connects Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair. The Detroit River connects Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie, the Niagara River, including Niagara Falls, connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The Welland Canal, bypassing the Falls, connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, the Saint Lawrence River connects Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which connects to the Atlantic Ocean
Great Lakes
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Satellite image of the Great Lakes, April 24, 2000, with lake names added
Great Lakes
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Terra
MODIS image of the Great Lakes, January 27, 2005, showing ice beginning to build up around the shores of each of the lakes, with snow on the ground.
Great Lakes
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Photograph of Lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron plus the
Finger Lakes of upstate New York, June 14, 2012, taken aboard the
International Space Station, with lake names added
Great Lakes
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Toronto on Lake Ontario is in the eastern section of the
Great Lakes Megalopolis
30.
Anderson v. Cryovac
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Anderson v. Cryovac was a federal lawsuit concerning toxic contamination of groundwater in Woburn, Massachusetts. Residents of Woburn, Massachusetts sued Beatrice Foods, the operator of a tannery, and Cryovac, after a trial which included contentious disputes over splitting the trial into separate liability and damages phases, W. R. Grace was found liable, and Beatrice was found not liable. The judge, Walter Jay Skinner, however, granted a motion for a mistrial, the Court of Appeal ordered a new trial. The district court found that a discovery error made by Beatrice impaired the plaintiffs preparation. On 22 September 1986, W. R. Grace settled with the plaintiffs for an amount of money. On January 28th,1987, W. R. Grace was indicted by a jury of lying to the EPA about its usage. Anderson Regional Transportation Center was later built on the site and named in memory of James R. Jimmy Anderson, the book A Civil Action, published in 1996, documents the case and related events. The 1998 film of the name, starring John Travolta as Jan Schlichtmann, was drawn from the book and loosely based on the case. A Civil Action, A Documentary Companion, By Lewis A Grossman, Robert G Vaughn Anderson v. Cryovac, 82-1672-S, Anderson v. Cryovac, Inc.96 F. R. D. 431 Anderson v. W. R. Grace & Co.628 F. Supp. 1219 Anderson v. Cryovac, Inc.805 F. 2d 1 Anderson v. Cryovac, Inc.862 F. 2d 910, on remand,1 Anderson v. Beatrice Foods Co.129 F. R. D. 394, affd,900 F. 2d 388, cert. denied,498 U. S.891 Science in the Courtroom - The Woburn Toxic Trial, Anderson v. Beatrice Foods - Index of Pleadings. Florida State University College of Law, Toxic Legacy, The Lessons of Woburn, Mass. Waste Site Cleanup & Reuse in New England - Wells G & H. United States Environmental Protection Agency
Anderson v. Cryovac
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Anderson v. Cryovac, Inc.
31.
Pittsburgh Business Times
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The Pittsburgh Business Times is a diversified business media company serving Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It publishes daily stories on its website and social networks, and it is published by the American City Business Journals. They combined operations by April 1 of that year
Pittsburgh Business Times
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Tunnels
32.
United States Environmental Protection Agency
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The EPA was proposed by President Richard Nixon and began operation on December 2,1970, after Nixon signed an executive order. The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House, the agency is led by its Administrator, who is appointed by the president and approved by Congress. The current administrator is Scott Pruitt, the EPA is not a Cabinet department, but the administrator is normally given cabinet rank. The EPA has its headquarters in Washington, D. C. regional offices for each of the ten regions. The agency conducts environmental assessment, research, and education and it has the responsibility of maintaining and enforcing national standards under a variety of environmental laws, in consultation with state, tribal, and local governments. It delegates some permitting, monitoring, and enforcement responsibility to U. S. states, EPA enforcement powers include fines, sanctions, and other measures. The agency also works with industries and all levels of government in a variety of voluntary pollution prevention programs. In 2016, the agency had 15,376 full-time employees, more than half of EPAs employees are engineers, scientists, and environmental protection specialists, other employees include legal, public affairs, financial, and information technologists. Beginning in the late 1950s and through the 1960s, Congress reacted to increasing concern about the impact that human activity could have on the environment. Senator James E. Murray introduced a bill, the Resources and Conservation Act of 1959, the 1962 publication of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson alerted the public about the detrimental effects on the environment of the indiscriminate use of pesticides. In the years following, similar bills were introduced and hearings were held to discuss the state of the environment, in the colloquium, some members of Congress expressed a continuing concern over federal agency actions affecting the environment. The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 was modeled on RCA, President Nixon signed NEPA into law on January 1,1970. The law created the Council on Environmental Quality in the Executive Office of the President, NEPA required that a detailed statement of environmental impacts be prepared for all major federal actions significantly affecting the environment. The detailed statement would ultimately be referred to as an impact statement. On July 9,1970, Nixon proposed a reorganization that consolidated many environmental responsibilities of the federal government under one agency. After conducting hearings during that summer, the House and Senate approved the proposal, the agency’s first administrator, William Ruckelshaus, took the oath of office on December 4,1970. In May 2013, Congress renamed the EPA headquarters as the William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building, the EPA is led by an Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. As of 2017 Scott Pruitt is the 14th administrator, each EPA regional office is responsible within its states for implementing the Agencys programs, except those programs that have been specifically delegated to states
United States Environmental Protection Agency
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Stacks emitting smoke from burning discarded automobile batteries, photo taken in Houston in 1972 by Marc St. Gil (cs), official photographer of recently founded EPA
United States Environmental Protection Agency
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Seal of the Environmental Protection Agency
United States Environmental Protection Agency
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Same smokestacks in 1975 after the plant was closed in a push for greater environmental protection
United States Environmental Protection Agency
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Ruckelshaus sworn in as first EPA Administrator.
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