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The
Schuylkill River: Our heritage, our future ... Taking care of
our waterway
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| By:By
MICHELLE MOWAD, Time Herald Staff |
December
01, 2002 |
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Part
two in a three-part series
West Norriton environmentalist L. James Watters has made a
clean, healthy Schuylkill River his life's ambition.
Watters has attended the meetings, done the research, traveled
the river and lived the changes in the river. And sediment is
at the top of his list of concerns. |
Sediment is, by volume, the state's number one pollutant of
surface waters. And according to the Army Corps of Engineers,
the Schuylkill River has tons of it.
Sediment deposited on a streambed smothers the aquatic
habitat, which, according to Pennsylvania Fish and Boat
Commission biologists, degrades water and habitat quality.
Sedimentation can cause radical changes in the course of a
stream by redirecting the flow, which may lead to greater
accelerated erosion and destruction of aquatic and riparian
habitats.
Sediment pollution, according to the Fish and Boat Commission,
and Trout Unlimited, costs state residents tens of millions
dollars each year in lost revenue associated with recreational
fishing because of degraded water quality and the reduced fish
habitat.
Good water quality is essential to the health and productivity
of aquatic ecosystems and to support a variety of human needs,
including water supplies, drinking water and recreation.
So how does the Schuylkill River rate?
American Rivers, a group of environmental activists, said that
nearly 40 percent of the rivers and streams in the U.S. are
too polluted for fishing and swimming.
Does the Schuylkill River fall fortune to the atrocious
statistics?
Thousands of us drink, bath and cook daily with Schuylkill
River water.
The Norristown Water Treatment Plant draws up to 18 million
gallons of water from the river per day for its 81,000
Norristown-area residential, commercial and industrial
customers. The water supply is withdrawn from the pool created
by the Norristown Dam.
The purification process at Pennsylvania American Water
Company (PAWC) treatment facilities is designed to remove or
kill harmful organisms. PAWC reported that during 2001, the
water delivered to all of their customers complied with, or
surpassed, all state and federal standards.
But the PAWC is not the only entity assuring us of the water
quality. There are several watchdogs in the community, from
governmental agencies to educational conservancies, testing
the waters daily.
According to the City of Philadelphia Water Department, there
are approximately 200 routine monitoring locations in the
Schuylkill River watershed and approximately 50 percent of
them are in Montgomery County.
"Some of the most important issues are the lack of storm
water management, silting and the reduction of the volume of
our drinking water," said Watters.
He added that in 1995, when the last soundings were conducted
by the state Department of Environmental Protection, testing
indicated that our drinking water reservoir volume had been
reduced by 47 percent.
"And an old law stated that the Norristown Dam pool must
be dredged again if the volume was reduced by 50
percent," said Watters.
Watters says the area in greatest need of dredging is
Norristown's River Front Park. He added that the river from
Norristown Dam to the top of Barbadoe's Island has been filled
by erosion from upstream development's lack of storm water
management.
Watters said he believes that cleaning up the Schuylkill River
will improve quality of life, quality of water and economic
conditions of all Montgomery County.
He says that while there are cars, tires and other rubbish in
the river, you also can see straight to the bottom of the
river in some places.
In addition, the removal and breaching of dams on the
Schuylkill are hot topics by interested stakeholders.
The dams on the Schuylkill were constructed years ago to
facilitate transportation, provide hydropower, and secure
water supply.
Yet some feel there is currently no need for dams at all.
The Schuylkill Riverkeeper is working to raise awareness of
the benefits of dam removal for restoring streams. They say by
removing dams, we are actually restoring our rivers.
The organization says dams harm rivers by blocking the
movement of fish, negatively changing the water temperature,
dissolving oxygen content and affecting the river's natural
function of transporting sediment and nutrients downstream.
Although they can be popular recreation places, dams are also
very dangerous, according to the Schuylkill Riverkeeper.
Deceiving currents at the base of dam spillways kill swimmers,
anglers, paddlers and others every year.
In the next year, the Collegeville Dam over the Perkiomen
Creek leading to the Schuylkill River is scheduled to be
removed. The 6-foot-by-250-foot concrete dam built in 1708 has
fallen into disrepair and will be removed to eliminate
liability and threat to the public safety, according to
Collegeville officials.
On the flip side, Watters says, this will only release more
silt downstream, and subsequently deplete more drinking water.
Michelle Mowad can be reached at mmowad@timesherald.com or
610-272-2501, ext. 205.
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| ©The
Times Herald 2002 |
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Reader
Opinions |
.gif) |
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Name: Walton
B. Schlosser Jr. |
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Date:
Dec, 01 2002 |
Would
you please thank Jimmy for me, enjoying his
articles, here in Florida. As a former
Director of Schuykill River Greenway, I hope
others are backing him in his efforts to clean
up the river. thank you
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| Number
of Opinions: 1 |
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