Yes, US rivers today are cleaner. MUCH cleaner. The same may not have been true a few decades ago. I recall stories when I was younger of rivers catching on

Yes, US rivers today are cleaner. MUCH cleaner. The same may not have been true a few decades ago. I recall stories when I was younger of rivers catching on fire. That's when you know things are bad :-) Today however, almost all US waterways are in fairly good shape. We have made tremendous strides in the last few decades cleaning things up.