A man in Houston was recently arrested for illegally dumping flammable materials into a storm drain.

According to ABC13 Houston, Santiago Arnulfo Hernandez Nieto's boss told him to take some containers to a storage facility. Nieto allegedly admitted that he found a little bit of glue and adhesive remover in a container and dumped it into a storm drain. He reportedly did this despite knowing that it was illegal to do so.

Surveillance footage also showed him lighting the liquids on fire. He said a lighter fell out of his pocket, and he did not do it on purpose.

According to court records obtained by the station, the drain that Nieto dumped into eventually leads to the Gulf. Although the exact substances were not disclosed, dumping certain chemicals into bodies of water can have severe impacts on local ecosystems and drinking water supplies. The Gulf is home to a number of wildlife species, including the critically endangered Rice's whale, sea turtles, and marine birds.

Meanwhile, this is not an isolated event. Freshwater sources across the globe face a growing number of threats due to human activity.

One group of Australian scientists discovered high concentrations of microplastics from tires in stormwater runoff. Another group of researchers is investigating the decades-long impact of coal mines on waterways in British Columbia, Montana, and Idaho. In the Peruvian Amazon, oil and gas spills pollute a number of water bodies and threaten the health of local Indigenous communities.

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Laws against hazardous dumping are one way to protect waterways. But they are only effective when individuals and corporations follow the law.

Some countries are beginning to charge major polluters to help address the problem. The EU is planning to make cosmetics and pharmaceutical companies pay at least 80% of the extra costs needed to clean up pollutants from urban wastewater before it reaches communities.

Klickitat County, Washington, also provides some useful suggestions to help people safely dispose of household chemicals. The agency urges people never to dump chemicals into storm drains. The toxins poison fish and can end up in drinking water.

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