Water quality is a major issue all around the world and there are so many actions that people can do which contribute to this issue. One of these is the illegal dumping of hazardous waste materials into bodies of water such as lakes, rivers, and the ocean. Almost all of the species on the endangered species list are water dependent animals. Water dependent animals are classified as such either because their primary source of sustenance comes from the water, or because the creature itself is aquatic. Water impurity affects humans and animals enormously, often causing diseases and even fatalities. Several lakes in Austin Texas, such as Lady Bird Johnson Lake, or Town Lake, is prohibited to swimmers, due to the massive amounts pollution in the water. (http://www.fws.gov/contaminants/issues/WaterQuality.cfm)

An organization that deals with this issue in our city is the Austin Clean Water Action. The organization aspires to “work to empower people to take action to protect America's waters, build healthy communities and to make democracy work for all of us.” (http://www.cleanwateraction.org/about)  The Organization’s goal is to protect bodies of water from harmful pollutants as spoken of in the previous paragraph.

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