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//Poisoned Waters//

In 2009, the investigative journalist team Frontline released //Poisoned Waters// directed by Rick Young. The film is about the growing issue of polluted rivers and bodies of water and the effects they have on drinking water. The focus is on Puget Sound and Chesapeake Bay and the rivers that flow into them. It looks at not only the pollution issue and the problem it is causing humans and ecosystems, but also the source of these issues.

The three main sources of water pollution are humans, industry and agriculture. Agriculture pollutes the water with fertilizers, pesticides and animal waste. Humans pollute the water from prescriptions and other chemicals in products they use. Industry pollutes the water from dumping waste into the rivers. Pollution leads to less recreational areas and possibly economic losses in the tourism industry when beaches have to close and it hurts the fishing industry and economy when the areas are labeled as unsafe to fish in. Another major problem is dead zones which are created from lots of algae growing, depleting the oxygen in the water and killing all the sea life in that area.

The most interesting part of the film was the clean up stories. It was ridiculous how much power citizens had over companies and city government. One of the most polluted rivers containing one of the most dangerous chemicals, PCBs, is not getting cleaned up. It has almost 9,000 times the federal concentration limit. No clean up is being done because it is stuck in a legal battle between the city and Boeing on who has to pay for it. Yet, right next door, PCBs are found in residential yards and streets and the residents get the city to pay for the clean up immediately. It is especially concerning because having the PCBs in the water is just as dangerous if not more dangerous than having it in their yards because it ends up in fish they eat and their drinking water.

The most disappointing part of the film was the lack of information on endocrine disruptors. They talk about a study on dead fish in the Potomac river that found intersex in the fish. Many of the dead fish had female eggs in the male testis. The cause of this is endocrine disruptors that are found in almost everything people use including cleaners, lawn chemicals, personal products and prescriptions. These chemicals are not regulated by the EPA because there is currently no scientific way to measure and test them. The fishes’ endocrine system is very similar to a human which suggests the same thing can happen in a human that is happening to the fish. The disappointing part was that they gave no human examples of reproductive problems in humans caused by these chemicals.

//Poisoned Waters// is a film that anyone who can vote should watch; especially, people who live on the Eastern coastline which is where the film takes places. It teaches viewers all the problems with water contamination on the Eastern coastline and its effects on ecosystems and drinking water. The viewer learns the source of the problems and how they can take action to help clean up and stop it.

Like the PCB example, the film emphasizes that the source of a solution comes from public engagement. When residents come together things get done a lot faster than if only interests groups or the government take action. The people have the power to rush the slow legal process. There is faster change in a county by county change than state by state because it’s easier to get an entire city unified. Another solution suggested to get people involved is to market solutions and not problems. Problems only make people feel frustrated and helpless. Solutions give people a guide to take action. Lastly, the film suggests “smart growth” where the amount of development is managed and monitored to control how fast, how, and where development takes place. This is to help keep natural environments in balance with developed areas to ensure clean drinking water, clean air, and animal life for the future. One politician mentioned in the film, Ron Sims, was implementing a version of smart growth, creating laws that prohibited people from developing on a certain percentage of their land. The residents fought the law and it was brought to the Washington State Supreme Court. I found the results of the case online. Click the link to find out if nature or the people won this battle. []