THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 22, 1996 TAG: 9601190006
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
Cleansing polluted rivers is no snap. The British began the cleanup of the Thames in the mid-19th century. Fish did not reappear at London Bridge until a century later.
Cleansing South Hampton Roads' Elizabeth River, degraded by humankind, will be no snap either.
The Elizabeth River springs off the body of water known as Hampton Roads - the roadstead in which ships may ride at anchor - to divide Norfolk and Portsmouth. It then splits into three branches, the Western Branch, which thrusts through Portsmouth, the Southern Branch, which further divides Norfolk and Portsmouth and snakes into Chesapeake, and the Eastern Branch, which separates Chesterfield Heights from Berkley. Of the three branches, the Southern Branch is the most polluted.
Fish live in the Elizabeth and its branches. But many are blind, deformed and afflicted with cancers because of the toxins in the waterways' sediment. Poisoned fish aren't good for human consumption.
Reducing poisons in the river, thus lessening the peril to fish and people, is the mission of the Elizabeth River Project. This grass-roots, nonprofit organization was the product of a conversation among four regional residents who got together in November 1991 to talk about upgrading the Elizabeth's water quality.
Aided by private-sector seed grants totaling less than $2,000, the project's founders asked 65 community leaders in 1992 about their thoughts on the plight of the Elizabeth, the importance of the river to Hampton Roads and the economic, esthetic and environmental gains that could be expected from a cleaner waterway.
The survey recorded enough concern about the river and appreciation for its economic, ecological and recreational value to transform the Elizabeth Project from concept to reality. The project in turn assembled 80 men and women - representing civic leagues, shipyards, watermen, colleges and universities, environmental groups, city, state and federal agencies, engineering firms, the marine-science agencies - into the Comparative Risk Committees. The panels were commissioned to identify and prioritize the the river's ills. They subsequently reported that the most-serious risks to the river are (1) polluted segment and harmful sedimentation processes, (2) loss of habitat and plant and animal life, (3) polluted runoff from lawns, streets and parking lots, (4) pollution from specific enterprises.
This led to formation of a 120-member Watershed Action Team, which also represented a wide spectrum of society, which recently finished the first draft of a comprehensive plan for environmental restoration in the Elizabeth River watershed.
The Elizabeth River Project's mission is to reverse the degradation of the waterway and to enhance public appreciation of the benefits that would flow from a healthier river. The project's work has been made possible with grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Regional and State Planning Branch and the Virginia state government, as well as grants from the private Virginia Environmental Endowment and funds from other public and private sources.
Now the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been told it may proceed with a $400,000 study of Elizabeth-cleanup options when Congress appropriates the funds.
So far, so good. The Elizabeth is cleaner today than it was during World War II and into the 1950s because the Hampton Roads Sanitation District Commission plugged all the outfalls pouring raw sewage into it and growing regulation and sensitivity to the environment by businesses operating on, alongside or near the river.
But much remains to be done. The Elizabeth is one of the three dirtiest waterways hooked to Chesapeake Bay (the Anacostia River in Washington and Baltimore's harbor are the others). To breathe freshness into the Elizabeth, wetlands must be restored, heavy metals and other sources of toxins remediated and the river protected against polluted runoff in the watershed.
We applaud the broad public involvement in the Elizabeth River Project - in its Comparative Risk Committees and and its Watershed Action Team and the orderly progress of the project toward the cleanup. We applaud, too, the pluck and smarts of the small band that a scant four years ago set out to do something about the most urban-stressed river in Hampton Roads. by CNB