Welcome to cleaning the river project! Let's start with a bit of history. The first civilizations were born approximately 5000 years ago in parts of Africa and Asia. This civilize, complex and politically active groups choose to establish their communities along several rivers. They main reason is that rivers are a continuous and dependable supply of water and food. Is thanks rivers like the Nile, the Tigris and the Euphrates that the first civilizations were able to find a place to settle down and develop. Is thanks to these rivers and our need for clean water that societies started the way they did and the cleaning the river project understands this.
5000 years later it seems as if we forgot the importance of rivers in the development of our specie. Instead of treating them as the blood of our planet and a source of health, we see them as public dumpsters. Hundreds of rivers across the globe are pollute daily, some even become a hazard for the community and long term problem for everybody.
At cleaning the river project we know that river pollution is a global issue, and that it is believe to be the leading cause of diseases and deaths worldwide. River pollution occurs when waste materials known as pollutants (such as chemicals and pathogens) are release into rivers without getting the proper treatment. This introduces harmful components into the water depleting the it from oxygen (anoxia) and affecting plants and organisms living in it.
Water is a not a renewable resource anymore, experts believe that in a few years humans are going to be facing a major lack of clean water, making it crucial for our specie to rethink our water usage and waste disposal methods and do something about them before is to late. In this website you find detail information about what is polluting the rivers in America. You'll also find useful tips on how to clean rivers and information on some of the most polluted rivers in the United States, such as the Mississippi river, the Ohio river and the Tennessee river. At Cleaning the river project we want to think that is not to late to change yet, learn from the first civilizations, cherish water, give that initial step with us.