Despite Flint’s Water Woes, Indiana Has America’s Worst Water Quality

Flint garnered national headlines for the tragedy of lead contamination in its municipal water supply, but it's Indiana that claims the dubious distinction of having America's most polluted water supply.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency's Toxics Release Inventory 17 million pounds of toxins are dumped into Indiana waterways annually.

WSBT-TV in South Bend reported the story and was told by a state spokesperson,

"It's an alarming study, but misleading," says Amy Smith, spokesperson for IDEM.

Smith says the Environment America report doesn't paint the whole picture, since the Toxics Release Inventory only accounts for certain industrial plants and factories. It is not an accurate measurement of water quality, since it doesn't include chemicals like pesticides and fertilizers from farmland, or auto-related chemicals from city streets.

Some of America's most polluted waterways are in the heavily industrial northwest Indiana including the Grand Calumet River.

A scientific survey captured in this 2012 video shows gas, methane and carbon dioxide, released from the river bed of the Grand Calumet when a probe was sent down to take measurements.

[WSBT-TV]