Seriously, you are reading correctly, Indiana water is the worst in America. But why is Indiana’s water so bad?
Information provided by the independent research group, Environment America. Their research shows that 206 million pounds of toxic waste was dumped into US water in 2012. Over 17 million pounds of this toxic mess was dumped in Indiana. This is more than any other state in the USA.
Why Indiana Water is The Worst
Environment America gathered their data from the EPA. Along with the self reported industrial data, their information also comes from a report from the government referred to as the Toxics Release Inventory.
Indiana officials claim the data is not totally true. Amy Smith, a spokesperson for IDEM claims that the Environment America study does not have the whole picture of what is really going in with the water in Indiana. The Toxics Release Inventory report only charts data from a few industrial factories and plants. The study does not consider pesticides and other farming chemicals nor does it include chemicals spewed from the vehicles that travel Indiana’s road ways.
The IDEM tests samples from rivers, streams and lakes. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management really must start doing a better job reporting and cleaning up Indiana rivers, streams and lakes. Monitoring is just not enough. It is one thing to know what is contaminating the water and quite another entirely to clean up the problem.
There are times when you may find people fishing the St. Joe River. Some even eat their catch. But if they read study from the Environment America, they might think twice about eating anything that comes out of that river.
Where Does Indiana Water Pollution Come From?
There is not only industrial waste dumped in Indiana water. There is also storm drain runoff flowing freely. What is in the storm drain runoff? A toxic mix of car pollution with oil and anti-freeze, PCBs degreasers and who knows what else, are all flowing freely into the nearest body of water.
The complete studies from the Environment America visit their website here.
For more information on what industrial companies are near where you live in Indiana, go here. Enter your address in the space provided and find out just what hazardous waste just might be in your Indiana water.
If you think Flint Michigan is the only place with a catastrophic water event, think again. They are just yelling the loudest and finally being heard. I don’t care where you live, if there are people, factories, farms or cars, the water is likely polluted with something that public water systems cannot remove, or are in your private well. Every home in Indiana and beyond should have a water filter.