Clean Water Act increasingly violated, N.Y. Times reports, offering database of local information

The New York Times has performed a major public service, and given journalists all over the country an opportunity to do likewise, by publishing a report saying that "Violations of the Clean Water Act have risen steadily across the nation ... in recent years" and "The vast majority of those polluters have escaped punishment. State officials have repeatedly ignored obvious illegal dumping, and the Environmental Protection Agency, which can prosecute polluters when states fail to act, has often declined to intervene." (Times photo by Damon Winter: Polluted water in West Virginia)

The Times makes it easy to localize this story with detailed, interactive maps of each state, showing permittees and their water-pollution violations. The newspaper compiled a national database of violations "that is more comprehensive than those maintained by states or the EPA," Charles Duhigg reports. "That research shows that an estimated one in 10 Americans have been exposed to drinking water that contains dangerous chemicals or fails to meet a federal health benchmark in other ways." For the story, click here. Here's one of the interactive state maps; click on it to open an active version.