Once one of the most polluted rivers in the Great Lakes Basin, the Rouge River in southeast Michigan is coming back...slowly. A 20-year effort to clean it up is paying off...gradually. This is the kind of work that will be required in dozens of places across the Basin over the next 20 years. Don't expect quick results, but there is no alternative to trying.
Twenty years ago, the Michigan Water Resources Commission, and later the state Department of Natural Resources, set 2005 as the year by which the Rouge would be clean enough to swim.
Though much progress has been made, southeast Michigan's biggest river system still is fit for direct human contact no more than 5% of the time, even though federal, state and local governments have spent roughly $800 million on sewer improvements.
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/rouge19e_20051019.htm
Pictures:
http://www.freep.com/photos/2005/rouge1019/index.htm
Posted by Dave at October 19, 2005 08:47 AM