“The Register’s Editorial: U.S. Needs to Get Serious about Water Pollution.” The Register’s Editorial: U.S. Needs to Get Serious about Water Pollution. N.p., July-Aug. 2014. Web. 07 Sept. 2014.
About half a million residents in Toledo Ohio were told that it was unsafe to drink or bathe in their water. This event was said to be a wakeup call for the entire United States. This is a big issue for many bodies of waters that go from Minnesota, California, Cape Cod and Chesapeake Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. Toledo gathers their water from Lake Erie. Lake Erie tends to have algae plume. The algae plume is not expected to go away anytime soon. This unsafe water can affect around 11 million people that live near by the lake. The dead zone size in the Gulf of Mexico was at more than 5,000 square miles. That is about the size of Connecticut.
I think that this is one of the biggest issues of water pollution. The fact that it is unsafe to drink and bathe in the water is bad. Also, the fact that it is a big issue for many bodies of water is not helping. We depend on these big bodies of waters for us to be able to drink, use, and consume. Even though the algae plume is not expected to go away anytime soon, we can help prevent more algae from coming. By preventing more algae plumes it can help the 11 million of people that leave near the lake
When a city like Toledo is cut off from water for basic living, it is bad. That’s millions of people. Now env. issues get attention and you are right to say it is one of the biggest issues of water pollution. So the question becomes, how do we prevent this situation. It is a tragedy of the commons in the classic form. My assumption is that hundreds of farmers and home owners are the culprits. How do we manage the fertilizer situation? The folks in Toledo want to know. Great post.