by Barbara Ehrentreu

Created on: December 23, 2008

For centuries populations have chosen to congregate around waterways. A river provides a large and convenient waterway for both recreational and occupational use. It is the reason why most of the major cities of the United States have been founded on the banks of major rivers and lakes. Waterways offer a means for transportation and a large source of water for people's different needs. In earlier times before industrialization, settling near a major waterway provided water to drink, bathe, clean, a source of power. a source of food. Many communities located near water have existed due to the fishing industry that was built up during the years. Fishermen who settled near water built their homes and left behind families.

Waterways connected smaller communities with larger ones. They helped to build countries as people realized they had many things in common with their neighbors and they started to trade with each other. Communities grew and industries began locating where there was population to support them, close to waterways. Cities, such as New York City, Chicago and London prospered as their industry grew.

Since cities depended upon industry for their economic health, they gave them a wide berth as far as regulation was concerned. Cities like London allowed industry to pollute their air and so did New York and other smaller cities who depended upon industries such as steel and coal to keep their cities viable. Up until the mid-twentieth century industries were allowed to pollute both the air and the water for their own ends. End products of manufacturing found their way into the waterways near where they were located. Vast areas of waterways became almost uninhabitable for living things.

Today, corporations pay lip service to cleaning up our waterways. However, some industries continue to operate destroying our waterways for corporate gain. Corporations petition to drill for oil in protected wilderness areas. Drilling for oil will only bring a tiny supply and certainly not enough to destroy our last national wilderness. Yet the corporations continue to try to show how it will be good for the country.

Some corporations pour things into the waterways that are invisible but deadly. The nuclear power industry in particular has allowed certain chemicals to pass into the waterways. In Westchester, New York, one such company let nuclear by products be expelled into the Hudson River causing an unsafe amount of a dangerous life threatening substance in the river's water. It caused the death of fish and other wildlife. Yet the corporation continues to say they were doing the best they could to keep the safety of the plant a priority. This particular corporation continues to be considered for licensing although their safety policies have been questioned continually. Yet Strontium 90 is at levels considered to be dangerous to living things in the Hudson River near where the corporation has its nuclear power plant.

it is not enough to have regulations. They must be enforced. it is up to the government to see this is done.

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