Dirty Water: One Man's Fight to Clean Up One of the World's Most Polluted Bays

by Bill Sharpsteen

Book Overview

Dirty Water is the riveting story of how Howard Bennett, a Los Angeles schoolteacher with a gift for outrageous rhetoric, fought pollution in Santa Monica Bay--and won. The story begins in 1985, when many scientists considered the bay to be one of the most polluted bodies of water in the world. The insecticide DDT covered portions of the sea floor. Los Angeles discharged partially treated sewage into its waters. Lifeguards came down with mysterious...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520256603
• ISBN13: 9780520256606
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A great case-study of the politics of environmentalism

I was expecting an over-blown recounting of how someone fought against bureaucracy and apathy to change his little corner of the world, but the story was neither that inflated nor that familiar. It was, though, complex, interesting, compelling, and, often, surprising. The natural drama of the story would make this a good read in any case, but the book would also be useful in, say, courses on environmentalism, politics, the psychology of social influence, marine biology, and on and on. Very well done.

A potentially dry topic brought to life

I usually don't read nonfiction books, but I read this one. Bill has brought the topic of water pollution in Santa Monica Bay to life with the colorful stories of real people. He's analyzed all the data and facts for us and gives us the bottom-line of what they mean and why they matter, skillfully weaving them into the story so they're interesting. I had never paid that much attention to the news stories in the '80s of all the sewage spills into the Bay, thinking they were just another bureaucratic failing we had to live with. But this book shows us the power of grass-roots involvement and how just one person can make a difference.

Dirty Water

Dirty Water helped me understand how Santa Monica Bay had become so polluted and how a few brave souls helped to clean it up. In many cases it was at a considerable personal cost. The interviews helped to see all those involved as decent people with different points of few. The often surprising interviews made the book hard to put down.