Good news and bad news for US rivers

Journal Article · Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1987 · Environment; (United States)

OSTI ID:5363959

Since the early 1970s over $100 billion have been spent in controlling water pollution in the US. The first major study to gauge the resulting water quality shows that there has been considerable success in reducing lead (achieved primarily from cuts in the use of leaded gasoline) and fecal bacteria (most probably because of improved treatment of municipal waste). But overall trends for a number of other water pollutants show the effects of increasing agricultural and urban run-off, a less-controllable source of pollution, and of atmospheric deposition. Nitrates, from both fertilizers and the atmosphere, are dramatically increasing overall. Increases were like-wise found for the toxic elements arsenic and cadmium, which are deposited from the atmosphere after fossil-fuel combustion, and in the salinity of natural waters, in part because of increased use of road salt.

• OSTI ID: 5363959
• Journal Information: Environment; (United States), Vol. 29:3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
RIVERS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
POLLUTION
USA
ARSENIC
CADMIUM
FERTILIZERS
GASEOUS WASTES
LEAD
NITRATES
POLLUTION SOURCES
RUNOFF
SODIUM CHLORIDES
WASHOUT
WATER POLLUTION
WATER POLLUTION CONTROL
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
CHLORIDES
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
CONTROL
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
MASS TRANSFER
METALS
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NORTH AMERICA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION CONTROL
PRECIPITATION SCAVENGING
SEMIMETALS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
STREAMS
SURFACE WATERS
WASTES
520200* - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)