Cuyahoga River pollution 1969

The image of a black, gooey hand- of the former Plain Dealer reporter Richard Ellers- coming out of the Cuyahoga River (soon after the fire) made national headlines. Ellers recalled, "Back in the '60s ... I went on a news excursion on the river downtown to show how bad the pollution was," he added "I remember we could see a layer of crud on the water but didn't appreciate its thickness until the photographer on the trip, Marv Greene, said, 'Richard, dip your hand in there and pull it out.'” The 1969 Cuyahoga River fire helped spur an avalanche of water pollution control activities, resulting in the Clean Water Act. Photo Courtesy Cleveland.com (Plain Dealer file). Posted 10/17/12 by Waterkeeper Alliance on Facebook.