Causes

What's Going On | Solid Waste Pollution | Water Pollution | Air Pollution | Energy Pollution

Effects

Global Warming | Health Problems

With our drinking water regarded as some of the best in the world, water pollution isn't popularly regarded as an issue of ours. However, it is a major issue. Additionally, our neighbors downstream the Mississippi River have potentially greater exposure to our pollutants.

Twenty industrial facilities empty wastes directly into the Wolf River Harbor of the Mississippi River. Because of the amount of wastes they dump, a warning sign has had to be posted by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conversation that states the following:

When an audit was completed on these twenty facilities, only one appeared to have complied with the Tennessee Multi-Sector General Permit (TMSP) for Storm Water discharges. These are the same companies that were found to be releasing levels of wastes into the water that were as much as ten times the allowed levels.

This pollution does not stay just in the Wolf River Harbor; it moves down the Mississippi and out into the Gulf, affecting millions of gallons of water every year and poisoning countless numbers of fish and other aquatic life.