What is Happening to Our Earth's Waterways?

Sickness and disease are far reaching. Illness knows no boundary, exercises no moral conscious. It impartially attacks both the young and the elderly, the prosperous and the penniless. Many of us have faced our sick loved ones, bravely reassuring them with a veiled solace, behind which lie our fear and uncertainty.

Imagine, if you would: The patient is in critical condition, with multiple life threatening ailments. A fever is running high, and refuses to break despite efforts to bring it down. A diagnosis has determined that toxins and poisons are coursing through tainted arteries and veins. The patient is declared chronic and terminal, beyond recovery.

This is not a human patient, it is our home. It's her oceans and rivers that are contaminated, our local streams and backyard brooks that gush with noxious waste. Our earth is very sick, and the caretakers of our planet are in a quandary as to how to stop the sickness from proliferating, let alone how to remedy her.

It is easy to become accustomed to the frequent headlines and scientific studies that tell us just how dirty our water sources are. Unless brought down to a personal or individual level, it is too convenient to dismiss it as someone else's problem.

The truth remains however that our earth is sick on a wholesale scale, and if this aggressive ailment of our waters has not yet affected us, it soon will. Just how sick are the earth's rivers? Moreover, who is responsible for this widespread contamination?

The waterways of our earth have long been seen as a toilet for emergent industry. Whether the pollution is piped in, runoff, or from seepage, the addition of harmful materials into the nearest water flow went largely unrecognized and unregulated in the face of booming factories. Radioactive wastes, heavy metals and byproducts of plastics were deposited into freshwater rivers and streams.

More recently, within the past half century, hundreds of new chemicals have come into use. Relatively few of them have been studied or tested as to their potential danger to humans or animals. These chemicals continue to find their way into our waters, and thus into our land, our livestock and our produce.

To be sure, industrial progress has eased our way of life, but at what cost? That same progress has endangered our earth's waters. The production of inventions and advancements in technology have improved our way of life, but can such developments truly be termed "progress" if they have encroached on and ruined our vital resources?

We hold aloft our technological advancements for all and we swank over the notion that we've reached a higher standard and achieved lofty goals, but look downward and you'll see we're standing in infected, grimy water. So we look to further rely on those same advancements in technology to create cleaner and more sanitary innovations. But far too often, as one problem is addressed, another surfaces.

In recent years, the major world powers have churned out initiatives and met at various summits to discuss the problem of pollution. However, it remains difficult for the governments to come up with any realistic solutions. Agreements are signed and later are dishonored.

The Kyoto Protocol, which dealt with harmful emissions, is but one example. In 1997, this agreement was signed; in 2001, the U.S. indicated it was abandoning the pact. To date, the United States has never ratified the agreement, citing various concerns regarding China, developing nations and the goals of the pact. President Barack Obama has taken no action to change this position. While in Turkey in April 2009, he said that "it doesn't make sense for the United States to sign [the Kyoto Protocol] because [it] is about to end". (in 2012)

he Going back a little further, in the 1970s the U.S. passed the Clean Water Act. This ruling established the goals of eliminating toxic substances in our waters and making surface waters safe for human recreation by the mid 80s. Clearly, this ambitious goal has come and gone long ago. In fact, recent Supreme Court rulings have actually annulled protection on various waterways that had been previously sheltered by this law and others.

Agreements that remain in place are difficult to enforce, and as it is with almost any issue, economics come into play. Governments claim they cannot devote the required spending to colossal clean up projects. As a result, we have "regulated pollution" whereby a certain amount of pollution is determined to be satisfactory and acceptable. Additionally, corporations attempt to circumvent rules that they feel would cut into their growth and profitability.

The pollution of our waters is not just a bureaucratic problem. According to a quote linked by Wikipedia, water pollution "has been suggested that it is the leading worldwide cause of deaths and diseases, and that it accounts for the deaths of more than 14,000 people daily."

In the U.S., approximately half of our streams and rivers are considered polluted. The other half carries some pollutants as well, just not enough to be categorized as contaminated. In underdeveloped countries especially, pathogens flourish because of sewer runoff or poorly functioning sewage treatment plants. In the U.S., beach closures are typical after heavy rainstorms because untreated sewage has leaked into our waterways. Rivers that empty into the Great Lakes have long been reviewed for their increased pollutant index. These rivers and lakes are so polluted, E.Coli warnings are regularly posted to warn swimmers of the danger lurking in the waters. The Environmental Protection Agency issues annual updates on what fish, if any, should be eaten out of these northern rivers and lakes.

We are the only ones responsible for the filth that our waters have turned into. Our detergents have sullied the water and created harmful phosphates. Insecticides, fertilizers and herbicides, designed to protect our food resources, have despoiled our watercourses. Petroleum hydrocarbons, gasoline, diesel and oil have leaked into our rivers and streams, killing the ecosystem and contaminating water sources. Logging and industry have prevented the waterways from any natural recovery.

Much has been made regarding recent initiatives that focus on renewable energy sources. Atomic energy, clean coal, geothermal energy, hydrogen power, fuel cell power and efforts at harnessing the wind, sun and water are all popular modern day approaches to rescue our dwindling resources. The environmental benefits of adopting cleaner energy sources are obvious. However, if that energy source is polluted in of itself, wouldn't you say we've missed something?