Act Green: New PBS Documentary on Water Highlights Need for Clean
Posted on: Monday, April 20th, 2009 at 4:35 am
Last week, LCV joined EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson at a special preview of a new PBS Frontline special, “Poisoned Waters,” a two hour documentary about the state of water quality in the U.S. The documentary airs tomorrow night at 9 Eastern on PBS.
Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Hendrick Smith uses the film to examine the risks to our health and safety posed by the over-polluted waters we are exposed to everyday. The film focuses on two waterways, the Chesapeake Bay and the Puget Sound, that exemplify the state of water quality across the country.
The scariest theme of the film is that while factories are still a major sources of water pollution, it’s chemicals from everyday products like shampoos, hairsprays, pharmaceuticals and such that are an increasingly dangerous pollution source as well.
“Clean water has slipped off the national agenda in recent years. The Clean Water Act said our waters were supposed to be fishable and swimmable by 1983, but we’re nowhere near close to that,” writes Mr. Smith.
That’s why Hasan Nazar, who leads LCV’s water policy work has been fighting so hard for the Clean Water Restoration Act.
“The Clean Water Restoration Act will plug many of the holes punched in the original act by the Bush Administration and hostile courts,” Nazar said. “As this documentary shows, passing the Restoration Act should be an urgent priority for everyone who likes safe drinking water, clean lakes, and showers free of things they can’t pronounce.”
Frontline Presents “Poisoned Waters” airs tomorrow night, April 21 from 9-11 PM EST on PBS. Watch the trailer at here and be sure to check this program out.