When you purchase through links on our web site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it work .
The Cuyahoga Success Story, Ohio
Last but not least , some in effect word . American Rivers named Ohio ’s Cuyahoga river its " River of the Year , " celebrating this watercourse ’s counter from the brink .
The Cuyahoga runs through northeast Ohio into Lake Erie . Throughout the 1800s and 1900s , it became horrendously contaminated , with rock oil slicks in thick float on its open . It get fervency several prison term , including a devastating glare that damage buildings along the banks in 1952 .
One of these fire , in June 1969 , enamour national attention . That event , 50 days ago , helped chair to the passage of the 1972 Clean Water Act and the world of the Union Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) .
It ’s been a long road back for the Cuyahoga , but the river now host dozens of Pisces the Fishes coinage and is no longer an industrial dumping earth . The river pass a major milestone just last month : The state EPA declare that fish caught in the riverare secure to eat .
" We ’ve come a long way and there is a lot to celebrate , " Bob Irvin , the president of American Rivers , said in a assertion . " But we still have a mess of employment to do . Too many people in our country do n’t have access to clear body of water and too many of our rivers are still threaten by contamination . We must keep speaking up because everyone deserves clean water and a healthy river . "
