water pollution

The 1998 El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) triggered the worst coral bleaching event ever witnessed, and is indicative of what future climate change events can destroy.

In 1971, the United Nations initiates the ratification of the Seabed Arms Control Treaty, which protects the world’s seabeds from the introduction of nuclear weapons and waste.

In January 1990, four oil spills occured in New York’s Arthur Kill and Kill Van Kull waterways, popularizing the heavily traversed channel.

After decades of precious metal recovery and recycling on the Evor-Phillips Leasing site, the EPA tested and found high levels of volatile organic compounds and heavy metals in the site’s soil, surface water, and groundwater, including the nearby marsh and wetlands.

After decades of unmonitored biological weapons testing and discarding of hazardous chemicals into unlined waste disposal pits, the groundwater surrounding Fort Detrick in Maryland was found to contain high levels of toxic waste, including dangerous carcinogens.

On 3 June 1979 the Ixtoc I oil rig exploded in the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico, and a continuous flow of oil released into the marine environment for nine months. Oil pollution reached coastlines and beaches, and damaged local shrimp populations.

On July 16, 1979 the United Nuclear Corporation’s Church Rock uranium mill disposal pond ruptured through its dam and contaminated the Puerco River in New Mexico and parts of Navajo Country.

The Sundarbans, one of the largest remaining areas of mangroves in the world with an exceptional level of biodiversity, is inscripted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.