RIVERS OF TOXIC CHEMICALS

Wouldn't you think that humans would treat their limited fresh water with respect and protect it from all contaminants?  Unfortunately, this is not so. 

Earth's fresh water resources are dwindling at an alarming rate.   Increased population and water wasting are two major factors contributing to the scarcity of this precious resource, and there are other reasons that usable water is becoming so scarce.  In some areas of the world, pollution levels in fresh water resources are so high that the water can no longer be used even for industrial purposes.  So many toxins are being released into rivers, lakes and leaking into groundwater resources that the water is unusable and dangerous.  Water is being poisoned by untreated sewage, chemicals, heavy metals, fuel leakages, dumped garbage and trash, acid rain, and chemicals used in farming which leak into rivers and groundwater.

Our waters become contaminated from the dumping, burying and spilling of toxic materials into the soil or directly into our waterways.  The destruction from toxic chemicals and waste into our waters is not just contained in the vicinity where they were released.  It spreads out into the soil in every direction and permeates into the groundwaters which travel far.  The toxins continue downstream, bringing death, not only to the native vegetation, but to animals that live in the water or to those that stop by for a drink of water.  And the dangerous chemical soup that seeps into our groundwater systems endangers human lives.  In those countries where the people must rely on wells and natural systems for their drinking water, toxic pollution of their water supplies is totally devastating and can cause a whole area to become uninhabitable.

Humans are destroying their own fresh water supplies which they depend upon for life!

LIVESTOCK DAMAGE
According to a 1999 study published in the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, between 70-80 percent of all the wildlife in the western U.S. depend on stream and riparian ecosystems.  The study found that livestock grazing damaged about 80 percent of this ecosystem habitat.  They eat and trample vegetation, create sedimentation of waters, break down embankments, cause erosion, pollute waters and watersheds, destroy habitat, cause species decline, and drive away smaller creatures.