Growing cities face many problems today. One problem is pollution. Most pollution in bustling cities is from improper land use. This affects the air and the water of these cities. Atlanta, the capital of Georgia, has this problem.

The Chattahoochee River, which provides well of half of the drinking water of Metropolitan Atlanta, is extremely polluted. The majority of the pollution in the Chattahoochee River is from growth and development. The pollution comes in the form of run off from parking lots, city streets, roofs, lawns, and farmland. This type of water pollution is known as nonpoint source pollution. Due to the growth of Metropolitan Atlanta, this type of pollution is responsible for three-fourths of the rivers and streams in Georgia that do not meet water quality standards.

Other sources of pollution in the Chattahoochee River have been the insufficiently treated waste water and sewer overflows from Atlanta. This caused high levels of phosphorus in the water. The city of Atlanta has been paying over $9,000 per day in fines to the United States Environmental Protection Agency for failing to clean up sewer overflows. In addition, many environmental groups and communities downstream are filing lawsuits in the federal courts.

Although the pollution of Atlantan waters is bad, the condition of the air is even worse. Most people think that factories and refineries produce the majority of the air pollution. With new technology these plants do not produce massive amounts of pollution anymore. The main source of air pollution is the automobile. Even though new technology has "cleaned" up the automobile, Americans drive twice as much as they did twenty years ago. People of Metropolitan Atlanta drive more miles than any other people in the United States. Atlantans average thirty-four miles per day.

Atlanta is trying many different plans to solve or lower their pollution problems. The federal government has proposed ideas that affect the whole country. One proposal was the Federal Pollution Prevention Act, which was passed in 1990. The ideas of this act were in hierarchy form. It states that pollution and resource conservation should be dealt with in this order: reduction of pollution and sources used, recycling, treatment, and finally disposal. The federal government also established the Federal Clean Air Act. The goal of this program was to test automobiles' emissions and fix or remove automobiles that are heavy polluters.

Today growing cities and towns face a large pollution problem. This pollution includes air and water. Even though it may appear hopeless for these places, technology and laws are decreasing the amount of pollution found in cities.

Works Cited

Blueprints for Successful Communities. 1998. 9 Dec. 1998

Georgia Emissions Home Page. 1998. 9 Dec. 1998

Georgia-Pacific Environmental Brief: Pollution Prevention. 1997. 9 Dec.

1998

Gringrich Rips Atlanta for River Pollution. 1996. 9 Dec. 1998