Before President Nixon created the EPA in 1970, water and air pollution weren't federally regulated.
In the 1970s, the EPA enlisted 100 photographers to document environmental conditions in the US.
The result was 81,000 photos, often filled with smoke, smog, acid, oil, trash, and sewage.
Don't let the soft, sepia tones fool you — the United States used to be dangerously polluted.
Before President Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, the environment and its well-being was not a federal priority.
In the early 1970s, the EPA launched the "The Documerica Project," which leveraged 100 freelance photographers to document what the US looked like. By 1974, they had taken 81,000 photos. The National Archives digitized nearly 16,000 and made them available online.
Many of the photos were taken before water and air pollution were fully regulated. The Clean Air Act was passed in 1970, and the Clean Water Act was passed in 1972.
This Earth Day, we've selected 35 of the photos to reflect on how cities across the US have changed — Baltimore, Birmingham, Cleveland, Delaware, Denver, Kansas, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco all feature here, in shots filled with smoke, smog, acid, oil, trash, and sewage.
None of the photos we've selected are pretty, but it's worth remembering what US cities used to be like before we cared what we put into the air, soil, and water.
In Baltimore, trash and tires cover the shore at Middle Branch beside the harbor in 1973.
Trash and old tires on the shore of Baltimore Harbor.
Jim Pickerell/EPA
The EPA regulates waste now, and sets criteria for landfills. While the open dumping of waste is banned, it still happens.
Baltimore City did have some simple techniques to keep the harbor clean.
Jones Falls, near Baltimore Harbor.
Jim Pickerell/EPA
Here, a screen has been placed across the water to trap trash. A heavy rain could break it, but it was effective when cleaned often.
In Birmingham in 1972, a boy throws a Frisbee against hazy skies.
North Birmingham was the most heavily polluted area in the city.
LeRoy Woodson/EPA
Truckers in the 1960s called Birmingham "smoke city," Bham Now reported.
A house in North Birmingham is barely visible in industrial smog coming from the North Birmingham Pipe Plant.
North Birmingham in 1972.
LeRoy Woodson/EPA
North Birmingham was the most polluted area of the city.
In Cleveland, in 1973, billowing smoke casts a gloom over the Clark Avenue bridge.
Clark Avenue Bridge in Cleveland in 1973.
Frank Aleksandrowicz/EPA
Because Cleveland was an industrial city, the pollution was severe.
Cleveland's inner city was also a dumping ground.
Superior Avenue, Cleveland.
Frank Aleksandrowicz/EPA
In this photo from 1973, an empty lot on Superior Avenue, Cleveland, was filled with trash.
In Delaware, the city incinerator billows out smoke over the river.
Delaware City's incinerator on the river.
Dick Swanson/EPA
In 2016, a report released by New York University said 41 people living in Delaware still die because of air pollution every year, The News Journal reported.
In Denver, murky light brown sewage is discharged into the South Platte River.
Sewage discharged into the South Platte River.
Bruce McAllister/EPA
The sewage came from the Metro Sewage Treatment Plant, per the EPA.
Here's a billboard against Denver's smoky skies in the 1970s. The city was known for having a brown cloud of pollution.
A billboard in Denver.
Bill Gillette/EPA
In the late 1980s, the air pollution got so bad, the city developed a visibility standard — it asked whether downtown workers could see mountains that were only 35 miles away, The New York Times reported.
In Kansas City's harbor, on the Missouri River, a local EPA worker points out a dying fish.
A local EPA worker points out a dying fish in Kansas City.
Kenneth Paik/EPA
While the river has been much cleaner since the Clean Water Act was passed, trash and industrial contaminants still end up in it, The Kansas City Star reported. In 2023, NPR reported that volunteers with Missouri River Relief have picked up more than 2 million pounds of trash from the river since the organization began in 2001.
In Los Angeles, the outline of the sun can be clearly seen because air pollution creates a buffer.
Los Angeles sun above a railroad near the Salton Sea.
Charles O'Rear/Documerica
In 1943, 30 years before this photo was taken, the smog was so bad, the city's residents thought there was a gas attack, according to the California Sun.
Los Angeles county monitored pollution on the roads, at least.
Air pollution control department.
Gene Daniels / EPA
In this photo from 1972, the air-pollution control department checks for violators.
In New Orleans, fumes spread over the streets.
Kaiser Aluminum Plant's smokestack blows out fumes over New Orleans.
John Messina / EPA
Fumes billow from Kaiser Aluminum Plant's smoke stack in 1973.
In an illegal dump in New Orleans, garbage turned to sludge when a lake overflowed into it.
New Orleans, Lake Pontchartrain.
John Messina / EPA
In the 1970s, the EPA found 66 pollutants in the city's drinking water. And the city's water is known for its oily taste, per The Washington Post.
In New Jersey, a photo shows raw and partially digested sewage.
Sewage in Bayonne.
Alexander Hope / EPA
The sewage was photographed darkening the water in Bayonne, New Jersey, in 1974.
New York is one of the most photographed cities for "The Documerica Project."
Illegal dumping area off the New Jersey Turnpike.
Gary Miller / EPA
Here, a pile of illegally dumped trash ruins the view of Manhattan and the Twin Towers in 1973.
A photographer snapped this image of an abandoned, waterlogged car in Jamaica Bay, New York.
An abandoned car in Jamaica Bay in New York City.
Arthur Tress/Documerica The
The abandoned Beetle was photographed in 1973.
Another car has sunk halfway into the beach at Breezy Point, south of Jamaica Bay.
A car dumped at Breezy Point, south of Jamaica Bay.
Arthur Tress / Documerica
The EPA now helps regulate how the city disposes of trash to prevent dumping in the Atlantic.
Though it might not be clear, this is the George Washington Bridge going over the Hudson River, covered in thick smog.
The George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River.
Chester Higgins / EPA
In 1965, a study by New York City Council found breathing New York's air had the same effect as smoking two packets of cigarettes a day, The New York Times reported.
Seen here is the Statue of Liberty surrounded by oil. It was the result of one of 300 oil spills in the first six months of 1973.
An oil slick surrounding the Statue of Liberty.
Chester Higgins / Documerica
Between April and June of that year, 487,000 gallons of oil were dispersed in the New York Harbor and its tributaries, The New York Times reported.
The EPA estimated about 6 million gallons of coal were dumped into the New York Bight by the Edison Power Plant in Manhattan in the early 1970s.
Edison Power Plant in Manhattan.
Alexander Hope / EPA
The New York Bight is a triangular area that reaches from Cape May in New Jersey to the eastern tip of Long Island. The city allowed a ConEd plant to burn coal in the 1970s amid a fuel shortage, The New York Times reported. But coal has caused air and water pollution and destroyed wetlands, according to the National Archives.
Barges, filled with New York's waste, are pulled down the East River to a Staten Island landfill.
Tugs towing barges filled with New York's waste.
Gary Miller / EPA
In the 1970s, New York produced 26,000 tons of solid waste every day, according to the National Archives.
Rubble is loaded into barges before being dumped offshore, on a debris dump site, in the New York Bight.
Construction rubble loaded onto a barge in the East River.
Alexander Hope / EPA
There were different distances for dumping different substances.
This is one of four New York City-owned vessels on its way to dump sludge 12 miles into the bight. In 1973, 5.8 million cubic yards of sludge was dumped, according to the National Archives.
One of four New York City owned vessels dumping sledge into the Bight.
Alexander Hope / EPA
The sludge would settle on the bottom of the ocean, like mud, killing plants, and creating a dead sea, The New York Times reported.
Acid waste lightens the water here. It was also dumped in the New York Bight, 15 miles offshore, and made up 90% of industrial waste dumped in the area.
Acid waste in the New York Bight.
Alexander Hope / EPA
In 1974, more than 3 million tons were dumped in the bight, according to the National Archives.
Some roads in Manhattan, like 108th Street and Lexington Avenue, were covered with piles of trash.
Empty lot strewn with trash.
Gary Miller / EPA
A photo shows trash strewn across New York City streets in 1973.
But it was worse in the Bronx. Here, the Bronx's Co-Op City housing development is beside a landfill that was still being used, even though it had exceeded its dumping capacity.
A landfill beside the Bronx, New York.
Gary Miller / EPA
If you look closely you can see scavenger birds flying over the trash.
In Philadelphia, the sun is setting, but because of the smog it's hard to tell.
Philadelphia at sunset.
Dick Swanson / EPA
In 2018, a study found the city was becoming more polluted between 2014 and 2016, after several years of decreasing pollution, Philadelphia magazine reported.
In Pittsburgh, thick smoke creates a haze over the city.
A junkyard looms in front of the Monongahela River, which runs through Pittsburgh.
A junkyard in front of the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh.
John Alexandrowicz / EPA
According to Mayor Tom Murphy in 2001, the biggest complaint he heard about the city was that it was too dirty, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
Near Pittsburgh, oil-coated trees on the shore of the Ohio River show the damage done by spills and industry.
Oil along the shore of the Ohio River, near Pittsburgh.
John Alexandrowicz / EPA
NPR reported that the river is much cleaner today, 50 years since the Clean Water Act.
In San Francisco Bay, the Leslie salt ponds gleam at sunset. The ponds were built to extract salt from the bay water. The photographer behind this photo said the "water stinks."
Leslie Salt Ponds in San Francisco.
Belinda Rain / EPA
In 2019, the EPA ruled the land, owned by Cargill Salt, was not bound by the Clean Water Act, Mercury News reported.
In San Francisco, industrial black smoke billows out of a stack.
Industry in the San Francisco Bay.
Belinda Rain / EPA
During the 1970s, the biggest problem for the city was ozone pollution, which mainly comes from cars, industrial plants, power plants, and refineries.
Here is one of the factories that polluted San Francisco.
Concentration of industry in San Francisco.
Belinda Rain / EPA
The photo was taken in 1972, according to the National Archives.
In Washington DC, raw sewage flows out into the Potomac river. In 1970, a hot summer resulted in a "stomach-turning" smell coming from the Potomac, due to the mixing of sewage and algae.
Raw sewage flows through the Georgetown Gap, in 1973.
John Neubauer / EPA
The pollution was blamed on a "hundred years of under-estimates, bad decisions, and outright mistakes," a director of the Federal Water Quality Administration told The New York Times.
His description can be applied to a lot of the US before the EPA.
This story was originally published in August 2019 and has been updated.
