Lake Erie: Clean Water

The author argues that The Great Lakes region is entering an era of unparalleled water tension. Agreeing with this argument, The Great Lakes are just another piece of Earth that us humans are ruining. Since The Great Lakes are one of the largest fresh water sources in the world we are forced to protect against losing it's surface area. 40 million Canadians and Americans live amongst their basin. The author, Peter Annin, brings up clean water scarcity, this is a huge problem around the world and right in our "back yard". The city of Flint's toxic, unusable water has become an embarrassment for all of Michigan.

Pollution is the presence of dangerous and unwanted substances in the ecosystem that causes imbalance and health hazards to the living. Water pollution is the presence of unwanted substances or particles in water, which causes imbalance in water systems. Lake Huron is among the largest fresh water sources in the States located in North America.

Water is used in all sectors of a society: industry, agriculture, transportation, energy and recreation. Canada has approximately 9% of the world’s total renewable freshwater supply; however, Canadians are the world’s second largest per capita users of water with the average Canadian household using 360 liters of water per today. The demand for water is increasing, and often different interests have conflicting demands. In developed areas of Canada, pollution has significantly impaired the natural quality of the resource. Increasing urbanization, together with inadequate infrastructures for water treatment, is leading to concerns about the quality of the water

Water contamination is vastly becoming an alarming issue across the world. We rely on clean water to survive, yet right now we are heading towards a water crisis. Changing climate patterns are threatening lakes and rivers, and key sources that we tap for drinking water are being overdrawn or tainted with pollution (www.nrdc.org). Clean and plentiful water is the cornerstone of prosperous communities. Yet as we enter the 21st century, swelling demand and changing climate patterns are

In order to have a thriving and healthy society a clean water supply is a very simple but necessary resource. Dating back to the beginning of civilizations the need for clean water was an essential need. The Clean Water Act dates to Franklin D Roosevelt’s administration. In 1972 Congress amended and passed what is now known as the Clean Water Act to protect our precious resource of water. The clean water Act prevented the dumping of pollutants into navigable waters without a permit. Many municipalities and commercial entities had previously dumped sewage and unregulated waste in to our rivers and streams contaminating a great percentage of our drinking water. This wreck less contamination of our waterways not only affected humans but also affected our wildlife including fish and animal’s life that depended on these waters. Any municipality or company that could affect our waters would need to apply for a permit to do so. While the Clean Water Act was a landmark legislation that was supported by both Democrats and Republicans alike over the years has seen expansion of the EPA’s interpretation of the law and has created a controversy in Administrative Law that has many challenges up to the Unites States Supreme Court. (Television, n.d.)

The Earth is a huge planet this is covered by 70 percent water. Astonishingly from this 70 percent the human population can only use 1 percent of the world’s water the rest of it is salt water, frozen, or in some way unattainable (Santa Clara Valley Water District, 2016). Humans have found many different ways to obtain this 1 percent of fresh water they need, but the techniques vary depending on location. In San Jose, California we obtain our water from 3 major sources: groundwater, imported surface water, and local mountain surface water. These 3 sources contribute different amounts of water to the San Jose community. Imported surface water composes about 50 percent of our water supply, while ground water composes roughly 40 percent, and local mountain surface water composes approximately 10 percent (Santa Jose Water Company, 2016). However, these percentages can change due to factors such as weather and global warming.

In January of 2015, Flint was found to be in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act after disinfection byproducts were detected at alarming rates (NPR, 2016). Water was somehow still deemed safe for consumption, as the city was very passive in its advisories. Although E. coli, coliform bacteria, and disinfection byproducts were very serious and harmful substances found in the water supply, they would not be the main issue.

The state of Michigan is a fascinating area. From its mitten-like shape, to its historical background, to the presence of the Great Lakes, Michigan has a story unlike any others. One very important part of Michigan’s story is how water has shaped the land making up the state. Seeing as the Great Lakes surround Michigan, it is obvious that the hydrologic system plays a great role in the water supply and the ecosystem of the Great Lakes. The hydrologic cycle includes evaporation, condensation, precipitation, groundwater, transpiration and runoff, all of which keep the Great Lakes functioning year after year. The University Corporation of Atmospheric Research developed an image to simply explain the hydrologic cycle as well as graphs explaining how each of the elements of the hydrologic cycle affects The Great Lakes on a monthly basis (located below).

Lake Erie had become extremely polluted and it needs your help! Because in the 1960 people dumped all their trash and pollutants into the lake. So the effect of that is it get blue green algae. People called lake erie the burning lake or the dead lake Lake Erie contained increased levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and the city took steps to improve its sewer system and better monitor water quality and fisheries sports anglers pulled five million walleye from the rejuvenated lake every year.Lake Erie had become polluted due to the due to heavy industry.

The Chicago River was settled by Native American tribes and they were the first to discover the portage between the Chicago River and Des Plaines River. The portage of the river is a valuable to Europeans since it is linked to the Great Lakes with the Mississippi that is a good way to export and import goods and the shipbuilding industry. The river has been reversed in 1889 by the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to keep the sewage clean and flushing filthy water into Lake Michigan due to the waterborne diseases that people were dying of to cholera or. Later again in 1922 the Cal-Sag Channel built a channel to lock out too much lake water from going into the river because states sued Chicago that they were using to much of Lake Michigan's water to clean the river.

In 1952 a fire caused a million dollars’ worth of damage to river boats and riverfront businesses. On June 22, 1969 another river fire engulfed the river, this time the media coverage captured the attention of the nation. Time Magazine described the Cuyahoga as the river that “oozes rather that flows” and in which a person “doesn’t drown but decays”. Many of the residents of Cleveland accepted the pollution as a necessary evil because they had jobs at these factories. This article helped the people of Cleveland pass a 100 million dollar bond to clean up the Cuyahoga River. Much of the industry that both made Cleveland rich and caused its river to burn may never be coming back. The costs of these fires were tremendous, but it did help lead to laws being passed to prevent this from happening in other rivers. One such law was the Clean Water Act of 1972.

Often, toxic substances are being drained into the air, waterways, and undergrounds wells. According to the report by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), over 60 million pounds of deadly chemicals are produced by industries in Florida. Notably, Florida’s water has been suffering mercury contamination until the state’s department of migration issues a circular regularly for regulations of eating freshwater fish in the region (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission). In fact, such metals emanate from coal combustion’s emissions which run into water bodies. Not to mention, pesticides and herbicides utilized by government and homeowners pollute the environment (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission). Indeed, all chemicals released into the atmosphere find themselves in rivers.

Another form of industrial waste that contributes to water pollution is acid rain. Acid rain is a product of industries burning coal. The burning of coal produces sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide, and when these chemicals combine with the earth’s atmosphere it forms acid rain The Northeastern part of the United States has the worst acid rain levels in the world. More specific, the states with the highest concentration are Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and some boarding parts of Canada and New England area. The falling acid rain can destroy plants and animals in several different ways. The acidification of a lake, river, or stream because of the high acidic levels in the water kills algae. Since algae are the main source of food, for many species of fish, they will also suffer from the high acid levels.

As the Great lakes play such an important role in providing safe drinking water to North America water quality and treatment are both important topics for the Great Lakes and the people that depend on them. We have spent billions of dollars to provide safe drinking water to citizen of North America and

Every day Americans depend on public water systems to treat and deliver over 44 billion gallons of water to homes daily (“Importance of Clean Water”). However, Americans