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vaughnegut

The river running through Cleveland used to be so polluted that it caught fire at least a dozen times.[1]

[1] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/cuyahoga-river-caught...

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And provided the spark that caused the Clean Water Act to pass. Impossible to imagine something similar today.

Maybe in the US, but I've seen some horribly dirty waterways in other countries.

Unless you live in Flint. Then nothing is impossible to imagine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis

Sorry that was ambiguously worded. My point was that nothing like the CWA was even floated afterwards, since everyone knows the politics of today wouldn't allow it.

I wonder if this is how Terry Pratchett was inspired, as the Ankh sometimes caught fire.

https://discworld.fandom.com/wiki/Great_Fire_of_Ankh-Morpork

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