Dirty Americans

Chesapeake Bay

A recent article by MSN listed the top dirtiest cities in America, categorizing them by air, land, and water. Despite all of our environmentally-friendly efforts, "green" legislation, tree huggers and Al Gore, we have some serious pollution problems in our country.

A quick peek at the list of dirtiest water spots in the U.S. reveals Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, and the streams and headwaters in Appalachia. What you don't know CAN hurt you.

The Chesapeake Bay is one of the nation's most important estuaries, providing an important fish and shellfish mainstay for the economy. Three billion gallons of raw sewage flows from our nation's capital into the Chesapeake Bay each year...and I'm not talking about the politicians. (wink) Pharmaceuticals in the water have caused spontaneous "sex changes" in the fish. Anyone want to go fishing or drink the water from there?

The northern Gulf of Mexico along the Louisiana-Texas coast is considered one of the dirtiest bodies of water in the U.S. because it is a hypoxic zone in which no plant or fish life can grow. The culprit?.. Pollution coming down the Mississippi River. It's estimated that there's now a dead area the size of Connecticut in a water system that was previously abundant with life, which had been the mainstay of economies in the area.

The Appalachia watersheds are the most threatened in America today, due to mountaintop removal mining. Over 90% of the downstream waters in West Virginia have been significantly impaired and over 2000 miles of streams have been buried in Tennessee and Kentucky over the past 15 years.

Think this doesn't affect you? Where are you getting YOUR water?

To read the entire article, click on http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-life/living-green/staticslideshowgreenchan...

-Trina-