Interesting report

[BradFromPotter]

https://www.fishandboat.com/AboutUs/AgencyOverview/Documents/150thDocs/1909-10report.pdf

 

[JimKennedy]

"About a year ago a broad emerald strip was noticed in the Susquehanna River from a short distance below Harrisburg to about forty miles above. An investigation showed it to be aluminum sulphate, the refuse from a very large plant near the junction of the north and west branches of the Susquehanna. The waste being deleterious to fish life the question of stopping the pollution was taken up with the owners of the establishment responsible for it. The owners promptly and cheerfully agreed to comply and are now constructing a huge purification plant."
73rd page

Hard to imagine a modern factory manager "cheerfully" agreeing to comply with the construction of a "huge purification plant" to put an end to pollution. Seems like polluting has gone from being something to be ashamed of to something that's accepted as the price of progress.


On the other hand, I'm glad to see that the number of dynamiting cases handled by fisheries in 1909 was high by modern standards. So weird to think they had 27 fish dynamiting cases in a single year. 140th page.

 

[jgish92]

""Hard to imagine a modern factory manager "cheerfully" agreeing to comply with the construction of a "huge purification plant" to put an end to pollution. Seems like polluting has gone from being something to be ashamed of to something that's accepted as the price of progress.""

I guess that's one (cynical) way to look at it. Another perspective might be that now, companies and individuals are much more aware of the harm that dumping chemicals can cause to the environment, and would not intentionally release it into a river. We live in a time where it is trendy to blame big companies for everything bad, but I believe many, maybe most, try to be compliant for reasons of stewardship and/or penalties. That is why it wouldn't intentionally happen now.

 

[troutbert]

Water pollution treatment is FAR better now than it was in the early 1970s. Because of laws requiring that.