Article Summaries
Title - Americans' Biggest Environment Concern? Water Pollution
Author - Katie Connolly
Date Published – Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Source – Newsweek
Summary – Pollution in water we drink is one of the leading environmental problems facing the United States today. Drinking Polluted water is not healthy for anyone and is something we are able to fix relatively easily. If enough people think that it is the most important issue facing the United States today that getting things done can happen.
Title – Water Fight
Date Published – Monday, Apr. 27, 2009
Source – Time
Web Link – http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1891640,00.html
Summary – In Asia there is a growing sense of concern over clean water supplies. Asia is the continent with the least water per person and its population is expected to grow by 500 million people within the next 5 years. Tensions are running high and the example of the pollution spill in the Songhua river, that also runs through Russia shows just how important having clean water is.
Title – Why the EPA Struggles With Water Pollution
Author – Daniel Stone
Date Published – Monday, March 1, 2010
Source – Newsweek
Summary – Big companies are dumping in small waterways because they argue that the laws allow them to do so. However, in affect this is the same thing as dumping in larger waterways because water moves in a cycle and there is no definite spot where it will end up next and it will still be contaminated. EPA needs to move to a stricter policy that does not allow dumping which is creating greater pollution in all water.
Title – U.S. Water Polluters Rarely Punished
Author – N/A
Date Published – September 13, 2009
Source – Facts on File
Web Link – http://www.fofweb.com/Science/default.asp?ItemID=WE40
Summary – In the last five years, more than 500,000 cases of self-reported pollution has occurred, yet punishment for these companies has been few and far. Many Americans are drinking polluted water with harmful chemicals without even knowing it, about 10%. The EPA is working on doling out more punishments while their top priority is to make all tap water clean to drink.
Title – Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost in Suffering
Author – Charles Duhigg
Date Published – September 12, 2009
Source – NY Times
Web Link - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/us/13water.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=water%20pollution&st=cse
Summary – Americans are drinking water filled with unhealthy chemicals and pollutants, thanks in large part to dumping by companies. Local and State authorities are not doing enough, and do not have enough funding to do much more. The Environmental Protection Agency does barely anything more than collecting data and finding out who is polluting. In the best case scenario, only 3% of companies that dump their pollutants are being punished. Although improvements have been made and are being made, there is still a lot of work left.
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