Sound the alarm

Frontline explores “Poisoned Waters” of Puget Sound, Chesapeake Bay 2

Sunset on the Puget SoundPhoto: ehpien via Flickr.Views like this are one of the reasons we Seattleites suffer through our long, cloudy, rainy fallwinterspring season. But the beauty can be quite deceptive.

No fishing signBeneath that reflective surface flow poisoned waters, contaminated with chemicals from agricultural runoff, prescription meds, cosmetics, industrial pollutants, and more—reflections, you might say, of modern life.

“The irony is that everybody looks at that [picturesque] scene and thinks that it’s great; everything is right with the world in Elliott Bay,” says scuba diver Mike Racine. “But in point of fact, not 100 feet away from where they are drinking a nice glass of wine off their white linen, there is this unbelievable gunk coming out of the end of this pipe.”

PBS’ Frontline tomorrow night explores this irony and reflects on the state of the nation’s waterways some three decades after the Clean Water Act. Speaking to concerned citizens like Racine as well as scientists, corporate-folk, and politicians, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hedrick Smith focuses on the Chesapeake Bay and the Puget Sound to tell the story of how we’ve neglected these hidden ecosystems and what it’ll take to restore them.

“We thought all the way along that [Puget Sound] was like a toilet: What you put in, you flush out,” says Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) of the 150,000 pounds of untreated toxins that hit the Sound each day. “We [now] know that’s not true. It’s like a bathtub: What you put in stays there.”

Here’s the (depressingly honest) trailer:

The two-hour Poisoned Waters episode airs April 21 from 9-11 p.m. ET on PBS. Check your local listings for more information.

Sarah van Schagen is Grist’s Seattle editor.

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  1. Delay And Deny's avatar

    Delay And Deny Posted 3:06 pm
    20 Apr 2009

    Governor: DemocratCounty Exec: DemocratMayor: Democrat

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  2. Clifford Wells's avatar

    Clifford Wells Posted 6:27 pm
    20 Apr 2009

    It is a point well taken that the some of the receiving water of the US continue to be plagued by wastewater treatment plant discharges, which add everything from nutrients to pharma compounds.  It is true that industral, urban, suburban, and farm point and on-point discharges continue to this day.  But we've come a long way from the days when pooh literally flowed into the tributaries, bays, and oceans.  You all probably don't even know what a paper mill really IS.Despite all the gross stuff some guerilla-enviro TV show is going to tell you, vast strides have been made in many aspects, including Puget Sound and the Chesepeake.  Hypoxia continues to be an issue in some areas such as western Long Island Sound in the summer.  Power plants continue to be allowed to suck up baziliions of gallons of cooling waters, thus killing marine larvae and warming the waters.  But we're still fighting the good fight.My point is that in many places, significant strides have been made to clean up the water and showing "how ugly it is" can be useful but also can backfire on our efforts.  My thinking is that 95 percent of the TV viewers will conclude that "government sucks" and won't help fight the good fight.  Once again, a crappy media experience from J-majors who simply don't know any better...

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