Series - Poisoned Water
"Drainage Ditch", 2020, by Scott Whipple, Photograph, 14" x 24" , Private Collection, Big Canoe, Georgia
Agriculture, which accounts for 70 percent of water withdrawals worldwide, plays a major role in water pollution. Farms discharge large quantities of agrochemicals, organic matter, drug residues, sediments and saline drainage into water bodies. Water pollution from agriculture is an increasing global concern that damages economic growth and the health of billions of people. According to a report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) program led by the International Water Management Institute – exploding demand for food with high environmental footprints, such as meat from industrial farms, is contributing to unsustainable agricultural intensification and to water-quality degradation. This growth in crop production has been achieved mainly through the intensive use of inputs such as pesticides and chemical fertilizers. (Source: Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations).
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"Dioxin Bay", 2020, by Scott Whipple, Oil, 8'-0" x 5'-6", $2,500.00
For more than a century, Dow Chemical manufactured a range of products including Saran wrap, Styrofoam, Agent Orange and Mustard Gas at its complex in Midland, Michigan. Over time, Dow released effluents into the Tittabawassee River, leading to dioxin contamination stretching more than 50 miles along the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers and into Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron. Dow, which merged with rival DuPont last year, is among the companies most affected by Superfund cleanups nationwide, E.P.A. data shows. (Source: New York Times)
"Toxic Canal", 2019, by Scott Whipple, Mixed-media, 5'-6" x 5'-6", Private Collection, Lansing. Michigan
In 2018, Lake Okeechobee, Florida became overloaded with excessive amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus from a variety of sources, including fertilization runoff from farms such as U.S. Sugar. These nutrients, along with warmer temperatures, promoted the growth of blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria.
Although contaminants come from other sources, such as septic tanks and lawn fertilizers, agricultural runoff appears to be the biggest factor. Years of environmental deregulation under state officials are cited for inflaming the crisis. Former Republican Governor, Rick Scott’s administration cut $700 million from water management districts during this period. In addition, Governor Scott accepted over $500,000 in campaign funds from U.S. Sugar. (Source: Sun-Sentinel.com). Ironically, U.S. Sugar is owned by the C.S. Mott Foundation who has given millions to the City of Flint to recover from its own water crisis.
"Red Tide", 2018, by Scott Whipple, Acrylic, 4'-2" x 3'-4", $1,000.00
The microscopic red tide-causing phytoplankton known as Karenia brevis has tested positive in high concentrations off the shores of Southwest Florida for over 20 years. Red tide is a naturally occurring algae bloom often found in the Gulf of Mexico.
Florida endured a larger than normal red tide bloom in 2018 afflicting its coasts on a massive scale of distance for an unusually long time; leading to thousands of deaths in marine life. The state spent millions in 2018 on beach cleanups as well as money into research on how to battle red tide. (Source: Phys.org)
The “food” sources for Florida red tides are diverse and complex, but it is believed that human activity and urbanization contributes toward inflaming red tide events.
"Appalachian Orchid", 2018, by Scott Whipple, Acrylic, 4'-0" x 4'-0", Private Collection, Big Canoe, Georgia
Acid rain and air pollution is shrinking scenic views, damaging plants, and degrading high elevation streams and soils in the Great Smoky Mountains. Even human health is at risk. Most pollution originates outside the park and is created by power plants, industry, and automobiles.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park has an array of air quality initiatives underway, including research and monitoring. Research and monitoring conducted in the park has shown that airborne pollutants emitted from mostly outside the Smokies are degrading park resources and visitor enjoyment. The burning of fossil fuels—coal, oil, and gas—causes most of the pollution. Inadequate pollution control equipment in power plants, factories, and automobiles is the primary problem. (Source: nps.org)
"Plastic Island", 2012, by Scott Whipple, Acrylic, 6'-3" x 4'-0", $3,000.00
Plastic accumulating in our oceans and on our beaches has become a global crisis. Billions of pounds of plastic can be found in swirling convergences that make up about 40 percent of the world's ocean surfaces. At current rates plastic is expected to outweigh all the fish in the sea by 2050.
In the first decade of this century, we made more plastic than all the plastic in history up to the year 2000. And every year, billions of pounds of more plastic end up in the world's oceans. Studies estimate there are now 15–51 trillion pieces of plastic in the world's oceans — from the equator to the poles, from Arctic ice sheets to the sea floor. Not one square mile of surface ocean anywhere on earth is free of plastic pollution.
The problem is growing into a crisis. The fossil fuel industry plans to increase plastic production by 40 percent over the next decade. These oil giants are rapidly building petrochemical plants across the United States to turn fracked gas into plastic. This means more toxic air pollution and plastic in our oceans. (Source: Center for Biological Diversity).
"Erie on Fire", 2011, by Scott Whipple, Acrylic, 6'-5" x 2'-4", Private Collection, Bonita Springs, Florida
On June 22, 1969, a train crossed the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio. A spark from the train jumped toward the water. The surface of the river was smothered in sewage and industrial waste from nearby industry. The spark met an oil slick and caught the river on fire.
The Cuyahoga River, which winds its way through northeast Ohio for eighty-five miles before emptying into Lake Erie, had a reputation. TIME magazine wrote that it “oozed, rather than flowed.” A lack of government regulation allowed heavy industry to lawfully deposit their refuse into the river. That Sunday morning in June marked the climax of a century of legal dumping.
The relatively small 1969 fire had no fatalities and minimal damage, but it captured the attention of the nation. Seven months after the fire, in January 1970, Congress passed the National Environment Policy Act, which helped establish the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This also led to the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972. (Source: Belt Magazine).
"Surfer", 2013, by Scott Whipple, Acrylic, 6'-4" x 1'-7", Private Collection, Lansing, Michigan
Hawaii has a serious trash problem — and it's coming on ocean waves. The Hawaiian archipelago is in trash trouble. Vast amounts of trash have been washing ashore on the state's once-pristine beaches. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been trying to keep critical parts of the ocean clear of marine debris, removing 57 tons of it from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in 2014. This area is a part of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, the largest conservation site in the United States. Despite the government agency's efforts, Hawaii continues to be plagued by trash, much of it plastic. (Source: cnn.com)
"Acid River", 2018, by Scott Whipple, Acrylic, 4'-0" x 4'-0", Private Collection, Lansing, Michigan
In 2014, the City of Flint, Michigan was under emergency management by the State of Michigan which approved the change of the source of drinking water from Lake Huron to the Flint River to save money.
Officials failed to apply corrosion inhibitors to the water. As a result, lead from aging pipes leached into the water supply, leading to extremely elevated levels of the heavy metal neurotoxin and exposing over 100,000 residents, including vulnerable children to elevated lead levels.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed and 57 state officials, including former Republican Governor Rick Snyder, are under criminal investigations in the ongoing crisis. (Source: Flint Journal)
"Fire Water", 2019, 5'-6" x 5'-6", Mixed-media, $2,000.00
By 1948 DuPont was producing about 2 million pounds of Teflon a year at its Washington Works plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia. In 1984, DuPont found a Teflon-related contaminant (PFOA - (Perfluorooctanoic acid) in the tap water of the Little Hocking Water Association in Ohio, just across the river from the company’s Teflon plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia. In 2017, DuPont agreed to pay more than half-a-billion dollars to settle water contamination lawsuits pending in federal court.
PFOA is used in the production of Teflon. Many studies in recent years have looked at the possibility of PFOA causing cancer. Some of these studies have suggested an increased risk of testicular cancer with increased PFOA exposure. Studies have also suggested possible links to kidney cancer and thyroid cancer. Other studies have suggested possible links to other cancers, including prostate, bladder, and ovarian cancer. (Source: Reuters.com)
"Crimson Stream", 2018, by Scott Whipple, 8'-0" x 5'-0", Acrylic, Private Collection, Cape Coral
The Ohio River is infamous for industrial pollution. Even after much clean-up and stricter regulation, the Ohio River still ranks first of the most polluted waterways in the U.S. In 2013, 24,180,821 pounds of pollution discharges from industry were recorded—this is more than double of what pours into the Mississippi River.
About 92% of these toxic discharges are nitrate compounds coming mostly from AK Steel’s Rockport, Ind. plant. The river technically meets the human health standards for nitrates so minimal changes are being made in regulation. The plant shifts the blame for nitrate pollution to farm run-off from nitrogen-based fertilizers, which are not required to be reported in the EPA’s Toxic Releases Inventory. (Source: Outward On)
"Snake River", 2017, 5'-6" x 4'-0", Acrylic, Private Collection, Buffalo, New York
Agricultural runoff from farms and ranches in the Snake River Plain and many other areas has crippled the ecology of the river. After the first irrigation dams on the river began operation in the first decade of the 20th century, most arable land bordering the Snake River was cultivated or turned to pasture, and agricultural return flows began to pollute the Snake. Runoff from feedlots was dumped into the river until laws made the practice illegal. Today fertilizer, manure and other chemicals and pollutants wash into the river and greatly increase the nutrient load of phosphorus, nitrogen, and fecal coliform from failing septic tanks, wastewater treatment plants, broken sewer lines, and animal waste.