People of Northwest Public Radio Duwamish River Pollution Thu
July 19, 2012 Clean Water: The Next Act - Seattle's Duwamish
River Part II This fall marks the 40th Anniversary of the Clean
Water Act – a piece of legislation that changed the way
waterbodies in this country are regulated and protected.
Pollution was supposed to be curtailed so that fish from all the
waters in America would be safe for people to eat. 40 years
later, though, many waterways still bear fish too tainted to
consume safely. One of the most polluted waterways in the
Northwest is Seattle’s Duwamish River. We’re taking a look at
the Duwamish as part of EarthFix’s series “Clean Water: The Next
Act.” The lower part of the river was declared a Superfund site
in 2001. That means the polluters have to work with the
Environmental Protection Agency to clean it up. More than ten
years later the EPA and the responsible parties are close to
proposing a clean up plan. But there’s still some debate about
how clean this river should be. EarthFix’s Ashl