The Six-Legged Starfish
"The garbage got into the water one piece at a time and that's the only way it's going to come out." -Chad Pregracke
Chad Pregracke, a CNN Hero of year 2013 and "The rivers garbageman" grew up seeing debris polute the river and now he feels it is time to take matters into his own hands. In 1997 he decided to ask for a small grant from Alcoa and spent his summer taking 45,000 pounds of pollution out of a 35-mile strech of the Mississippi River. Chad now runs a non-profit organization, called 'Living Lands and Water', and has held 700 clean-ups in 23 rivers but still claims that he's just getting started.
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Yellow River Turning Red
The Yellow River, a mirage of beauty but fleeting fast. Many factories, cities, and farms are important parts of China's economic boom, and have been pulling the plug and draining the yellow river dry. "Blood-red chemical waste" is being dumped into the yellow river, turning "the mother river of China" a garnished-purple color. The damage the Yellow River has gone through is effecthing the 150 million people that use the Yellow River as a water source.
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"It's not dead, but it needs a tremendous amount of work from all of us." -Anonymous
30 million people rely Citarum River for water and it supplies 80% of Jakarta's drinking water. While it is cleaned for big cities and large towns, smaller towns like Sukamaju get water pumped into town directly from the river. the water is dirty, unfilterd, and teeming with toxic chemicals. Now organizations like the Aisan Developement Bank are investing 500 million dollars over the next 15 years to try and save the sick river from death."We have no choice, this is the only water we have. Everyone in this village only has this water source. If it's raining then our wells will get fresh water. But if it's dry season, everyone must use this water." -Nyai
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