Poll: Clean water tops global warming

The public is more worried about clean water issues than global warming, a new poll shows.

According to a new Gallup poll, 79 percent of the public worries a great deal or a fair amount about toxic-waste contamination in water or soil.

Twenty percent of the public says they worry very little or not at all about the issue. The same number worried about pollution of lakes and rivers, and 77 percent of the public said it is worried about pollution of drinking water.

When it comes to global warming, 51 percent of Americans polled worry, while 48 percent say they worry very little or not at all.

While little has changed from a similar poll conducted by Gallup in 2010, the public is less concerned about the issues than it was in 2001. In 2001, 88 percent of the public said it was concerned about drinking water contamination and 63 percent of the public was concerned about global warming.

Notably, the poll was conducted March 3-6 — before the nuclear disaster in Japan.