Black Flies Thriving In Cleaner Rivers

Tag : Cleaner Part

Scientists said black flies are thicker than ever in Maine thisyear, thanks in part to efforts to clean up lakes and rivers.
The federal Clean Water Act of 1972 has resulted in cleanerwaterways and provided new habitats for black flies around thePenobscot and Kennebec rivers, where the flies hadn't been seenbefore, the Boston Globe said Monday.
Scientists said only the hardiest of the gnat-sized, biting insectscould survive when Maine's rivers were contaminated by paper mills,raw sewage and other pollution. Some states control the black flieswith a bacteria called Bti, but Maine officials refuse to putanything in the rivers unless it's to solve a human health crisis,the newspaper said.
We do not favor anything that is toxic to one organism because weoften find out down the road they are toxic to others, DavidLittell, commissioner of the Maine Department of EnvironmentalProtection, told the Globe. (c) UPI