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Merrimack River Case Study

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The Merrimack River, which flows through New Hampshire and Massachusetts, has a long and extensive history with battling pollution. For the past few centuries, the Merrimack has been a hub for industrialization. Particularly in the 1900s, textile mills sprung up all along the river due to the ability to utilize hydropower. While this development helped many cities industrialize and grow substantially, it also has led to extreme levels of pollution in the river. Since the Environmental Protection Agency passed the Clean Water Act of 1972, the Merrimack River has significantly improved in quality. Even so, there are still waste disposal problems that plague the Merrimack. Currently, sewage waste remains a considerable concern in polluting the …show more content…

Not only does it provide a source of water to 600,000 people, it has acted as a means of travel, hydropower and a source of food (Merrimack River Watershed Council, 2014). It goes without saying that alongside the cultural developments that have grown with the Merrimack River, there have also been many environmental issues as a result of misuse and poor city planning. While some of these problems have improved greatly since the 1900s, there are still improvements that need to be made. One of the most prominent issues that currently affect the quality of the Merrimack River is sewage waste. Although the Clean Water Act of 1972 has set standards in place for sewage disposal, progress has not been immediate. For example, Manchester, New Hampshire, one of the many cities that reside along the Merrimack River, did not stop dumping raw sewage into the river until 1992 (U.S. Department of the Interior, …show more content…

Although sewage systems are able to provide a great deal of sanitation to water before it is released back into a source, the risk of raw sewage overflowing into water sources poses several issues. Not only can raw sewage contain harmful bacteria such as E. coli, it can also negatively affect aquatic life. Human waste typically contains high levels of nitrogen, phosphorous, and other nutrients that are useful for people but can cause many issues in an aquatic environment (Burkholder et. al., 2011). Much of these elements are removed during wastewater treatment, but if they are sent directly to a water source due to flooding, they can cause algae blooms and harm

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