I agree with the environmentalists on this one
Correct URL:
http://www.edenagain.org/
"One of the diseases controlled by wetland filling was malaria. Until the late 1890s, it was believed that malaria was caused by poisonous vapors coming from ponds and swamps. In 1897, it was discovered that malaria was carried and spread by mosquitoes, which breed in water and therefore are more plentiful near wetlands. The fear of malaria was a real one for residents of Connecticut in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Following the Civil War, returning soldiers brought the disease to the northern states and it spread throughout the mosquito populations here. Mosquito control in Connecticut became a primary public health concern and the filling of wetlands (most often with refuse, construction and manufacturing waste) became even more desirable.
"The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station noted that the elimination of mosquito breeding places was the single most important factor in combating the disease. A law passed in 1915 gave the director of the Agricultural Station the power to “drain, fill or otherwise eliminate any such breeding places”."
"The filling of wetlands was also being recommended for other reasons. In the same year (1915) Dr. Joslin, the Health Officer for Hamden, recommended the establishment of public dumping places, since many people were dumping their garbage and refuse in their yards and creating a public nuisance (Haley & Aldrich, p. 28). Dr. Joslin issued a statement that same year, saying, “there are many low spots where people might like to have refuse dumped for fill (Haley & Aldrich, p. 28)”."
"A 1916 City of New Haven Health Report prepared by Yale University stated that the Anopheles mosquito, which bred in fresh water marshes and streams, was “a constant menace to health, since these mosquitoes may be carriers of the parasite malaria…” It was reported that marshes located along the Mill River in Hamden were causing “a gross mosquito nuisance” and that “the fresh water areas were breeding enough mosquitoes to create a very considerable malaria problem”."