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From the BBC history site @ sig.
"As tragic as 'The Fire' was, it was instrumental in bringing the deplorable state of the Lower Cuyahoga River to an end. Federal officials were embarrassed into providing funding to improve the water quality. During the first Earth Day in 1970, the Cuyahoga Fires were part of the impetus to 'clean up our act.' Finally, the fire was to be the instrumental rallying point in the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972."
Recovery
"After the 1972 Clean Water Act, waste that went into the river was greatly reduced, and the Cuyahoga slowly began to heal. In 1998, such a great degree of improvement had occurred since the fires that the Cuyahoga was designated as one of 14 American Heritage Rivers by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The water chemistry of the Lower Cuyahoga River has finally become suitable for aquatic life, and the fires are a thing of the past."
BTW, PiB is a long way from the burnin' river. No worries.
