What’s in the River?

The River Raisin in downtown Manchester

by Claire Pajka

(This is part one of a three-part article series on pollution in the River Raisin.)

Once a productive waterway full of sturgeon, the River Raisin took a miserable turn with decades of neglect and unregulated industrial and agricultural practices, to the point where a few miles of the Raisin claimed a spot on the EPA’s Area of Concern list in 1987. The EPA website explains that Area of Concern sites were designated through the Great Lakes region as areas where significant environmental degradation had occurred as a result of human activities. These sites had to fit certain criteria called Beneficial Use Impairments, such as “Degraded Fish and Wildlife Populations,” “Eutrophication or Undesirable Algae,” and “Restriction on Fish and Wildlife Consumption.” The Raisin fit the bill: the slow, stagnant water was too polluted for even the heartiest of wildlife, and as fish died off, birds lost their food source and vacated the river, too. Algal blooms and foul-smelling water were not uncommon through the summer months, and fish were too contaminated with PCBs and heavy metals to be safely consumed.

Thankfully, the River Raisin is a vastly different river than it was 50 or even just 20 years ago, having undergone many steps in the right direction. Both large and small scale remediation and restoration efforts have begun to bring life back to the once untouchably polluted river.

But just what exactly is polluting the River Raisin? In this three-part article series – covering PCBs, heavy metals, and agricultural and yard runoff – we’ll dive into some of the substances contaminating the local waterway, their polluters, and the effect they have on the environment and human health.

But first, a little general background on pollution. Pollution is often classified as “point” and “non-point”, determined by the source releasing it. If the contaminant is released from a single, identifiable source, such as a drainpipe from a factory, then it can be classified as a point source of pollution. Non-point source pollution does not have one identifiable source or place, and is often a confluence of multiple polluters, such as runoff. The Raisin has been victim to both, and suffered contamination from the both urban-industrial, and rural-agricultural areas surrounding the river.

To learn more about the region’s big polluters and pollutants, keep an eye out for the What’s in the River? article series over the next few weeks.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.