Date: April 20, 2010

What happened? What kind of pollution (chemical)? What was/were the cause(s)? Point source or non-point source? 

Deepwater Horizon, a point source, exploded and sunk into the Gulf of Mexico, causing the largest spill of oil in the history of marine oil drilling operations. 

What effects did the pollution have on humans/environment? How was pollution cleaned up? Are there long-term effects? Explain. 

Attempting to use booms and chemicals, conservationists attempted to clean up the oil spill, however much of the oil still remains in the ocean today. Much of the marine life was affected, polluting waters and contaminated many ocean species.

Date: March 24, 1989

What happened? What kind of pollution (chemical)? What was/were the cause(s)? Point source or non-point source? 

An oil tanker, a point source, was grounded, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil into the surrounding ocean.

What effects did the pollution have on humans/environment? How was pollution cleaned up? Are there long-term effects? Explain. 

Seaberds, mammals, fish, invertebrates, and their communites were all affected by the oil, and 25 years later there is still oil in the ecosystem. Cleanup attempts using booms were partially successful

Date: August 1, 1953- December 31, 1987

What happened? What kind of pollution (chemical)? What was/were the cause(s)? Point source or non-point source? 

Treatment water facilities near Camp Lejeune showed extreme levels of contamination including degreasers, cleaning solvent, and VOC’s. This was a non-point source as multiple sources of water were contaminated.

What effects did the pollution have on humans/environment? How was pollution cleaned up? Are there long-term effects? Explain. 

The effects on humans showed drastic increases in cancers and other ailments. Even today, veterans previously stationed at Camp Lejeune are showing signs of increased cancer at astronomical rates. Soon the water treatment facilities were repaired and the problem was solved.

Date: August 5, 2015

What happened? What kind of pollution (chemical)? What was/were the cause(s)? Point source or non-point source? 

Contractors accidentally destroyed the plugs holding water trapped inside the mine, a point source, spilling three million gallons of mine waste water and tailings into Cement Creek. This lead to spilling of many metals into the Animas River.

What effects did the pollution have on humans/environment? How was pollution cleaned up? Are there long-term effects? Explain. 

The waste water caused the river turning yellow, causing polluted waterways affecting municipalities in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Navajo Nation. The water turned extremely acidic and toxic. A 1.5 million dollar treatment plant was built to clean water from the Gold King Mine

Date: 1942-1953

What happened? What kind of pollution (chemical)? What was/were the cause(s)? Point source or non-point source? 

Hooker Chemical Company, a point source, used the partially dug canal as a chemical waste dump. They released around 21,000 tons of chemicals and some included carcinogens without telling anyone.

What effects did the pollution have on humans/environment? How was pollution cleaned up? Are there long-term effects? Explain. 

The increased levels in chemicals led to a series of inexplicable illnesses and widespread birth defects in families. The pollution was not cleaned up and toxic ooze still seeps out from Love Canal to this day. 

Date: 1952-1966

What happened? What kind of pollution (chemical)? What was/were the cause(s)? Point source or non-point source? 

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a point source, dumped 370 million gallons of chromium tainted wastewater into unlined wastewater ponds, polluting local ponds.

What effects did the pollution have on humans/environment? How was pollution cleaned up? Are there long-term effects? Explain. 

750 million dollars had to be spent in remediation, and took almost 40 years to clean up. A half mile long concrete barrier was constructed to contain the plume, using ethanol to convert the chromium 6 into chromium 3. Its effect on the environment caused much of the affected drinking water to be contaminated and too toxic for consumption

Date: June 22, 1969

What happened? What kind of pollution (chemical)? What was/were the cause(s)? Point source or non-point source? 

Floating pieces of oil slicked debris were ignited on the river by sparks caused by a passing train. This was caused by industries, non-point sources, dumping waste into the water, heavily polluting so much that oil kept the fire burning for half an hour. 

What effects did the pollution have on humans/environment? How was pollution cleaned up? Are there long-term effects? Explain. 

After much regulation from congress, companies stopped polluting the river. Ohio has spent 3.5 billion to purify the river and build sewer systems. Previously the river was uninhabitable by water organisms and remained like that for generations.

Date: 1975-1980

What happened? What kind of pollution (chemical)? What was/were the cause(s)? Point source or nonpoint source? 

High levels of chemical contamination and VOCs were found in groundwater pumped from wells. W.R. Grace and Company and Beatrice Foods, point sources, were incorrectly dumping TCE and other industrial solvents,

What effects did the pollution have on humans/environment? How was pollution cleaned up? Are there long-term effects? Explain. 

THis caused higher rates of illnesses and childhood leukemia in surrounding cities and the local community. Local officials brought the case to court and we forced to stop the illegal disposal. To this day, Woburn sites are still contaminated.

Date: January 9, 2014

What happened? What kind of pollution (chemical)? What was/were the cause(s)? Point source or nonpoint source? 

MHCHM was released from a Freedom Industries, a point source, into the Elk River. The chemicals, leaking from a small hole in a storage tank, contaminated the drinking water in local areas.

What effects did the pollution have on humans/environment? How was pollution cleaned up? Are there long-term effects? Explain. 

The chemical causes nausea, vomiting, dizziness, headaches, diarrhea, and etc. The contamination left 300,000 people without drinking water. As a means to retaliate, WEst Virginia began flushing out its waterways. 

Date: 1993 

What happened? What kind of pollution (chemical)? What was/were the cause(s)? Point source or nonpoint source? 

Disease of cryptosporidium entered the water treatment plants through Lake Michigan. THe actual cause is unknown, making it a nonpoint source. 

What effects did the pollution have on humans/environment? How was pollution cleaned up? Are there long-term effects? Explain. 

The Virus had passed through the filtration system of one of the city's water treatment plants, contaminating drinking water. 403,000 residents suddenly were being affected by stomach cramps, fever, diarrhea, and dehydration. The virus was quickly sourced and the water was resantized.

Date: 2015 

What happened? What kind of pollution (chemical)? What was/were the cause(s)? Point source or nonpoint source?

Two companies were found to be dumping toxic heavy metals and other pollutants into coal ash ponds operated by Duke and Progress Energy, a point source.

What effects did the pollution have on humans/environment? How was pollution cleaned up? Are there long-term effects? Explain. 

NC coal ash ponds are toxic sources of dangerous pollutants that pose a danger to human and environmental health if the toxins spread to adjacent surface waters and drinking water wells. North Carolina does not require the company to clean up any leakage of the infected waters, meaning the pollution still persists

Date: 1985-Now

What happened? What kind of pollution (chemical)? What was/were the cause(s)? Point source or nonpoint source? 

Runoff from agriculture, a non-point source, in the MIssissippi River watershed brought highly rich nutrient filled waters into the GUlf of MExico. This caused accelerate bacteria growth which in turn created high oxygen demand, leaving the water with almost no oxygen for fish. 

What effects did the pollution have on humans/environment? How was pollution cleaned up? Are there long-term effects? Explain. 

The lack of oxygen has lead to no fish or organisms except for algae blooms to eb able to survive within those areas. The dead zone still has currently not been fixed and fish populations will be affected for generations.

Date: 1947-1977

What happened? What kind of pollution (chemical)? What was/were the cause(s)? Point source or nonpoint source? 

General Electric, a point source, discharged PCBs into the water causing a wide variety of pollutants to contaminate the water. Other things such as untreated sewage and mercury contamination from other non point sources were found.

What effects did the pollution have on humans/environment? How was pollution cleaned up? Are there long-term effects? Explain. 

This lead to a range of harmful effects as it caused fish to become toxic to eat, poisoning some humans. Extensive remediation on the river began and still continue on today.Due to the clean water act, the river has slowly become cleaner over the years and is slowly filtering out its sediments.