WATER | FRONTLINE: Poisoned Waters

More than three decades after the Clean Water Act, iconic American waterways like the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound are in perilous condition and facing new sources of contamination.

With polluted runoff still flowing in from industry, agriculture and massive suburban development, scientists note that many new pollutants and toxins from modern everyday life are already being found in the drinking water of millions of people across the country and pose a threat to fish, wildlife and, potentially, human health.

In Poisoned Waters, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hedrick Smith examines the growing hazards to human health and the ecosystem…

…In addition to assessing the scope of America’s polluted-water problem, Poisoned Waters highlights several cases in which grassroots citizens’ groups succeeded in effecting environmental change: In South Park, Wash., incensed residents pushed for better cleanup of PCB contamination that remained from an old asphalt plant. In Loudon County, Va., residents prevented a large-scale housing development that would have overwhelmed already-strained stormwater systems believed to contribute to the contamination in Chesapeake Bay.

Poisoned Waters. PBS. (2009) Credits.

See: What broke the Safe Drinking Water Act?

See: Buried Secrets: Is Natural Gas Drilling Endangering U.S. Water Supplies?

See: Fracked: Barnett Shale drilling chemicals found in blood and organs

See: Hydraulic Fracturing: Applicability of the Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean Water Act. Science Advisory Board Discussion

See: Coalbed Methane Development: The Costs and Benefits of an Emerging Energy Resource

See: History of Litigation Concerning Hydraulic Fracturing to Produce Coalbed Methane. LEAF (Legal Environmental Assistance Foundation) and The Hydraulic Fracturing Decisions.

See: Expert Testimony on Hydraulic Fracturing Impacts

See: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): Underground Injection Control (UIC) Program | UIC | US EPA

See: Under the surface : fracking, fortunes and the fate of the Marcellus Shale

See: Model validation : perspectives in hydrological science

See: Fueling Washington

See: The Next Drilling Disaster?

See: Natural Gas Industry Shills Use the Media to Mislead the Public – Here’s How to Spot Them

See: This Website is a Crash Course In Fracking

See: Affirming Gasland

See: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): Weston Wilson Whistle Blower Letter

See: NETL: Secure & Reliable Energy Supplies

See: EPA Findings on Hydraulic Fracturing Deemed “Unsupportable”

See: Coalbed Methane Development: The Costs and Benefits of an Emerging Energy Resource

See: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Fossil Energy and National Energy Technology Laboratory: Modern Shale Gas Development in the United States: A Primer

See: Underground Injection of Gas Industry Brine Taking Off – State Journal – STATEJOURNAL.com

See: The Costs of Natural Gas, Including Flaming Water