',:
/
|
Fo rewo rol
/
The problems of environmental degradation—air and water pollution, solid
waste, threats‘ to wildlife, destruction of natural reSources—aŒ often summed
-
up in the phrase “the environmental crisis.” One of the chief mstrcaüons for
using such a phrase is the view that all these problems
up to
change in the status of the environment, a break With the past serious enough
to merit the term “crisis.” Against this view
that there is
no real crisis, that environmental pollution today—although bad ând
rable—is nothing new, and that in some ways the situation is better than it
'
was.
'
f
This argument is worth a doser lock, and the problems of Water pollutiOn
_
afford an excellent opportunity. It is useful to compare the water pollution
situation in the United States today with the situation, let us say, 100 years
’
Of all the varied water pollution problems discussed in this book—bacte—
-
rial contamination, the dumping of organic wastes that deplete oxygen content, algal overgrowth, industrial chemicals, thermal pollution—bnly one was
important in the nineteenth century. In the 18705 the single, overwhelming
cause of water pollution was
the contamination of surface waters, especially
—
drinking water, with the path0genic bacteria originating in human waste.
The most serious bacterial contamination caused typhoid fever.
Certainly on its
typhoid problem of the 18705 and 18805 seems
much Worse than any present water pollution problem. As pointed out in
Chapter 6, at that
was responsible for a death rate of about
?
75—100 per 100,000 population, and most of the deaths Were due to con—
tan‘ainated water supplies. ‘Thisproblem has certainly been solved
.'
râtég‘om typhoid is‘nowabout 0.1 per 100,000), and surely
prObleï
as much harm to htnnañ
ThIS
”support the argument that water polluüon15anold pmby
/
|
Fo rewo rol
/
The problems of environmental degradation—air and water pollution, solid
waste, threats‘ to wildlife, destruction of natural reSources—aŒ often summed
-
up in the phrase “the environmental crisis.” One of the chief mstrcaüons for
using such a phrase is the view that all these problems
up to
change in the status of the environment, a break With the past serious enough
to merit the term “crisis.” Against this view
that there is
no real crisis, that environmental pollution today—although bad ând
rable—is nothing new, and that in some ways the situation is better than it
'
was.
'
f
This argument is worth a doser lock, and the problems of Water pollutiOn
_
afford an excellent opportunity. It is useful to compare the water pollution
situation in the United States today with the situation, let us say, 100 years
’
Of all the varied water pollution problems discussed in this book—bacte—
-
rial contamination, the dumping of organic wastes that deplete oxygen content, algal overgrowth, industrial chemicals, thermal pollution—bnly one was
important in the nineteenth century. In the 18705 the single, overwhelming
cause of water pollution was
the contamination of surface waters, especially
—
drinking water, with the path0genic bacteria originating in human waste.
The most serious bacterial contamination caused typhoid fever.
Certainly on its
typhoid problem of the 18705 and 18805 seems
much Worse than any present water pollution problem. As pointed out in
Chapter 6, at that
was responsible for a death rate of about
?
75—100 per 100,000 population, and most of the deaths Were due to con—
tan‘ainated water supplies. ‘Thisproblem has certainly been solved
.'
râtég‘om typhoid is‘nowabout 0.1 per 100,000), and surely
prObleï
as much harm to htnnañ
ThIS
”support the argument that water polluüon15anold pmby