ABSTRACT
A decade ago the Danube River in Europe was polluted in all its reaches, pollution of the Detroit and Niagara rivers in North America imperiled the citizens of both the United States and Canada, and the Rhine River in Europe had become the world's biggest sewer. Toxic pollution is not an impairment of water quality which can be cured by ordinary physical and chemical treatment and disinfection. Toxic pollution, moreover, reflects the failure of traditional pollution control measures such as dilution or receiving water standards. Toxic pollution is frequently caused by land use activities and, unlike nearly all other causes of water pollution, these land based activities are beyond the jurisdiction of traditional water management agencies such as mainstem river and boundary waters commissions. The role of the public in providing information useful for toxic pollution control is very vital one, and has been demonstrated in many ways, especially in the identification of existing and historic hazardous waste disposal sites.
