Trying Times of the Detroit River
The Detroit River may seem like a magnificent waterway now, but it has had a dark history. While the Detroit River was glorified as such a beautiful and important part of the city of Detroit, the city was dumping millions of gallons of oil into the river annually in the 1940s.The city continued to destroy what the River was once known for until it was declared a national Area of Concern in 1987.
Pollution
The Detroit River has been, and still is one of the busiest waterways in the world. Due to the many years of it being so successful, it led to Detroit's success and greatly contributed to Detroit being named the 5th largest city in 1950. While this may have seemed like an accomplishment for the city, the urbanization of the river's shore led to a huge amount of pollution and suffering for the river. John Hartig a U.S and Wildlife Service Biologist said it best, “Detroit classically made the Detroit River its back door”.
While small portions of pollution are almost inevitable for waterways such as the Detroit River, the degree of pollution on the river hit a high and largely started the downfall. One of the largest negative impacts for the river occurred shortly after World War II. From 1946 to 1948, an estimated 5.9 million gallons of oil were dumped each year into the river. Over time much of that oil washed up onto the shore lines but this impacted the river tremendously. One gallon of oil pollutes up to a million gallons of oil. Often boats had to “hoist their boat out of the water so they would not get slicked at night”. According to University of Michigan's wildlife management professor George Hunt, “an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 ducks and geese were killed by oil slicks during these years”. This was only just the start of the mistreatment of Detroit's major waterway.
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After decades of pollutions, 29 of the Detroit River's 31 miles were declared unsafe during the 1960s. This ultimately was a result of urbanization, sewage, stormwater, and the other countless pollutants being dumped into the river. Sadly this declaration did not change the treatment of the river at all and continued on for many more years.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency the river was considered
highly unsafe because of high levels of metal, bacteria, PCB’s, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,
and oil. The water was not consumable and almost all animals and species could not survive
there anymore. The high amounts of pollution caused a major decrease in fish and wildlife, and
those that did survive began to get tumors and other odd deformities. And this did not only
affect species living in the river, but it became a huge problem for citizens of Detroit as well.
Fishing in many areas had to be stopped, beaches were closed, and much of the beauty of the
river was gone. The citizens to began to feel angry, and often worried about theirs and other
citizens health. The sight, the stench, and the neglect of the river became unbearable for many
of the people in Detroit.
highly unsafe because of high levels of metal, bacteria, PCB’s, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,
and oil. The water was not consumable and almost all animals and species could not survive
there anymore. The high amounts of pollution caused a major decrease in fish and wildlife, and
those that did survive began to get tumors and other odd deformities. And this did not only
affect species living in the river, but it became a huge problem for citizens of Detroit as well.
Fishing in many areas had to be stopped, beaches were closed, and much of the beauty of the
river was gone. The citizens to began to feel angry, and often worried about theirs and other
citizens health. The sight, the stench, and the neglect of the river became unbearable for many
of the people in Detroit.
For so long the Detroit River’s health was ignored and only recognized for its usefulness for the city. No one recognized how bad it was, until finally it was named and Area of Concern on the Great Lakes Quality Agreement of 1987.