Tippets: Colorado Water Pollution, Endangered Rivers of British Columbia, Plastics in Paradise

April 4, 2018 By: Erin Block

  • Colorado allows 39 major industrial facilities to release known pollutants into waterways. Recent analysis has shown 17 have exceeded their legal limit 241 times in an 18-month period. “The pollution discharged above permitted amounts included cadmium, copper, chlorine, ammonia nitrogen, arsenic and E. coli bacteria spilled into such waterways as the South Platte River and Boulder Creek.” Via The Denver Post.
  • The Outdoor Recreation Council has released their list of the most endangered rivers in British Columbia. The report “warns that steelhead stocks have dipped to precarious levels on key rivers, including just 57 fish returning to the Chilcotin River and 177 to the Thompson River this past year.” Via The Vancouver Sun.
  • Ed Yong writes a sobering reminder about the amount of plastics in the world’s oceans and where it washes ashore on remote beaches. Henderson Island was designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in 1988. It “should be pristine. It is uninhabited. Tourists don’t go there. There’s no one around to drop any litter,” writes Yong. “Turns out even one of the remotest places on earth is not immune from the scourge of plastic.” Via The Atlantic.