Water Pollution

School Library Journal

Gr 6-12-- A broad coverage of the main issues in protecting the quality of America's water supply. Although the account is comprehensive, accurate, authoritative, balanced, and well-documented, it suffers from problems of style and syntax to the point that only highly motivated students are likely to read it. Beginning with the basics, Gay explains how pollutants enter water supplies, the legal and technical aspects of clean-up methods, and actions individuals can take. Unfortunately, the horrifying facts are presented in a plodding style, full of passive constructions that destroy any sense of action. Accounts of specific incidents are too few and too brief. There are several irritating problems of incorrect syntax and poor vocabulary (e.g., calling fiberglass ``noncorrosive'' rather than ``noncorrodable''). Illustrations consist of black-and-white photos plus a few very clear diagrams that are well keyed to the text. Melvin Berger's The New Water Book (Crowell, 1973; o.p.) and Geraldine Woods's Pollution (Watts, 1985) give excellent brief overviews for younger readers, and Laurence Pringle's Lives at Stake (Macmillan, 1980; o.p.) gives a much clearer sense of the competing interests of public health and economic activity, but lacks the coverage of current problems. Gary McCuen's Protecting Water Quality (GEM, 1986) presents actual position papers of conservationists and polluters in various controversies. The best use of Gay's book would be to accompany McCuen's as students research debate topics. As a general introduction, it is too verbose to sustain much interest. --Jonathan Betz-Zall, Sno-Isle Regional Library