Customer Reviews

Dirty Water: One Man's Fight to Clean Up One of the World's Most Polluted Bays

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I usually don't read nonfiction books, but I read this one. Bill has brought the topic of water pollution in Santa Monica Bay to life with the colorful stories of real people. He's analyzed all the data and facts for us and gives us the bottom-line of what they mean and why they matter, skillfully weaving them into the story so they're interesting. I had never paid that much attention to the news stories in the '80s of all the sewage spills into the Bay, thinking they were just another bureaucratic failing we had to live with. But this book shows us the power of grass-roots involvement and how just one person can make a difference.

Dirty Water helped me understand how Santa Monica Bay had become so polluted and how a few brave souls helped to clean it up. In many cases it was at a considerable personal cost. The interviews helped to see all those involved as decent people with different points of few. The often surprising interviews made the book hard to put down.

As sad as this may sound, I knew living in Los Angeles county there is pollution but I never really thought much about the ocean getting partially treated sewage dumped backed into the Santa Monica Bay! I would have to say this book, honestly, that I thought it would be boring but not so at all!!!

Bill Sharpsteen brings the people to life, like you almost know them. I read through each chapter with ease and ready for the next chapter. The people that were involved throughout this while process like the man who started it all, Howard Bennett. Bill Sharpsteen interviewed these people about 25 years after it happened! To interview people I must say is difficult and some may not want to be interviewed or want to give the information you are asking of them. I had the opportunity to do a study on the same people for years and I must say it was a challenge! Memories, willingness, truthfulness are some of the issues I faced with interviewing people.

I recall hearing about this when I was a teenager but unfortunately I had other interests back then, but this book gave me information about what I didn't pay attention to 25 years ago. I was impressed with the dedication, hard work, preserverance by people in this book and by the author himself!

I was expecting an over-blown recounting of how someone fought against bureaucracy and apathy to change his little corner of the world, but the story was neither that inflated nor that familiar. It was, though, complex, interesting, compelling, and, often, surprising. The natural drama of the story would make this a good read in any case, but the book would also be useful in, say, courses on environmentalism, politics, the psychology of social influence, marine biology, and on and on. Very well done.