Forty-one years ago, in 1969, the air in St. Louis was fouled by emissions from a variety of smokestacks. Meatpacking plants, power plants, chemical plants, and other manufacturers discharged without restriction. Sanitary sewer plants pumped sewage treated to basic levels directly into the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, as well as local feeder streams, where it mixed with liquid discharges from manufacturing interests. Landfills accepted whatever people no longer wanted, and people who didn't want to wait for trash pickup just tossed garbage and waste out the window of their car.