The top US hydrologist named urbanization a defining environmental problem by 1961

Evidence

Urbanization – the concentration of people in urban areas and the consequent expansion of these areas – is a characteristic of our time. It has brought with it a host of new or aggravated problems that often make new demands on our natural resources and our physical environment. Problems involving water as a vital resource and a powerful environmental agent are among the most critical. These problems include the maintenance of both the quantity and quality of our water supply for consumption, for recreation, and general welfare and the alleviation of hazards caused by floods, drainage, erosion, and sedimentation. — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 869

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Federal hydrologists first named urbanization a major sediment-pollution cause — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 822