In 1969, industrial debris dumped into the Cuyahoga River that runs through Cleveland, Ohio piled up under a railway bridge and caught fire. While the fire itself did not last long, the news of this incident spread nationally and it became the symbol of how polluted the urban rivers in the U.S. had become.
Of course polluted rivers, then and now, are hardly a new problem. Yet, in many people’s minds, that fire on the river running through Cleveland became the starting point for cleaning up several U.S. urban rivers. Among those rivers are the St. Joseph River in South Bend, Indiana and the Chicago River. The St. Joe runs through a town of 100,000 while several million people live in Chicago. Both cleanups are still works in progress.
St. Joe Power
It’s easy to forget that when large scale manufacturing began in the 19th century, water power fueled it. That’s what happened in South Bend. Beginning in the 1840s, such firms as the Oliver Chill Plow Company and later Studebaker (that first made wagons and then automobiles) used water wheels and then hydroelectricity to power their plants. Every industrial firm produces waste and the local river provided a convenient, inexpensive dumping site.
At the end of the 19th century, South Bend had become a prosperous manufacturing hub. Its expanding upper middle class residents built multi-story, multi-bedroom homes for their families. Many of them chose to build along a major road way, Lincoln Way. A portion runs along the northern high bluff of the St. Joe. It’s the street, not the housing, that runs along the side nearest the water way. Shrubbery and trees shielded the homeowners from any view of the river. These homeowners didn’t want to even look at the St. Joe. Or drink its water. They used unpolluted well water instead. South Bend’s unsightly, waste producing industries had lined up on the river’s flat northern shore.
Out of necessity, by the 1970s the people who ran South Bend began looking at improving the city finances. The tax base kept shrinking when Oliver Plow, Studebaker and many other industrial firms, left not only the river bank but also the city. Tourism, it was thought, beyond the six yearly Notre Dame football weekends, would certainly help the city’s finances and a river clean up could mean tourist dollars. With fewer industrialists to protect their bottom line and a lot of disused space, the project gained support and was eventually begun.
In the 1980s, those improving the St. Joe added one unique feature: a white water kayaking course – the East Race. It’s located between the river bank and a small disused island and is good enough for Olympic tryouts. They further enhanced the site by adding fish ladders on the river side of the island that enabled steelhead trout and coho salmon, along with those who catch them, to come up river to South Bend. A riverwalk eventually stretched north into Michigan. If those Lincoln Way houses were built today, it is likely that the road would be moved more inland to provide a river view.
A Slightly Different Problem
When it came to drinkable water, Chicago had Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, both sewage and industrial waste from the Chicago River emptied into the lake. By the middle of the 19th century, people recognized that heavily polluted water somehow or other caused typhoid and cholera. (Finding the germs came later.) As early as 1848, to protect their Lake Michigan drinking water, the city of Chicago wanted to divert the river into the Illinois and Michigan Canal. By 1900 a canal was completed that ultimately drained Chicago River water into the Mississippi River.
While Chicago’s first Mayor Daley was not known for attractive civil improvements, the second Mayor Daley, his son, earned a well deserved reputation for beautifying the city. Like the South Bend scheme, increased tourist dollars lay at the heart of his plans. Nonetheless, thanks to the second Mayor Daley’s efforts, the Chicago River has become a genuine attraction. Its riverwalk along the south bank goes from Lake Michigan west for a little over a mile and a half. Visitors can find kayak rentals, tour boats and restaurants along with a concert site, floating flowerbeds in the summer and floating hot tubs in the winter. Around St. Patrick’s Day, using non-polluting dyes, the river becomes emerald green. In addition, taking advantage of the massive, 25 story Merchandise Mart on the north side of the river, an evening light show, beamed from a both on the river walk side, uses the building for a screen. The successful campaign to improve the Chicago River meant that this past summer people voluntarily (and safely) swam near the riverwalk.
However, as of this writing, neither the Chicago River or the St. Joe is crystal clear. Both have treated sewage in them. In these times of increasingly excessive rain storms, it becomes untreated sewage. To cope, South Bend, uses a computerized system to redirect polluted water within the drainage system until the flooding subsides.
Chicago is in the process of digging what is known as the TARP (Tunnel and Reservoir Plan), a system designed to, “reduce flooding, improve water quality in Chicago area waterways and protect Lake Michigan from pollution caused by sewer overflows” that can deal with 17.5 billion gallons of water.
And Yet
Walking along the Chicago Riverwalk one day, I heard a tourist talking with someone fishing. “Looking forward to catching your dinner?” the tourist asked. “You wouldn’t want to eat anything I catch here,” came the reply. Long lasting industrial waste still pollutes the river bottom. For years, only sturdy fish like carp and catfish willingly swam in either the Chicago or St. Joe river water. Even though more less pollution tolerant fish can and do now join them, clean up is still a work in progress.
For more stories, insights and guidance on navigating the evolving landscape of sustainability and other related issues, stay tuned to our blog for future updates and expert analyses.
And help us build a more sustainable and prosperous world by becoming a member of the Advance ESG community. It’s free to join and there are no future financial obligations. Together, we can make a difference in safeguarding our planet for future generations.
