The Living Great Lakes by Jerry Dennis

Author:Jerry Dennis
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466882027
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Chapter 10

DETROIT RIVER/LAKE ERIE

Downriver Detroit • On to Erie • A Visit to Walleye World • Invasion of the Zebra Mussels and Other Environmental Matters • A Little Storm on Skeerie-Erie

The Detroit River downstream from Detroit to Lake Erie is a wasteland of industries, some failed and failing, others apparently thriving. We passed the mouth of the sluggish and dark Rouge River. Not far upstream Henry Ford built the River Rouge Industrial Complex in 1919, where he mass-produced Model-T’s by the millions. He made practical use of the river, building berths for steamships and discharge pipes for his factory wastes. Other factories followed his lead, and for the rest of the century the Rouge flowed alternately black with oil and bright orange with the discharge from pickle plants. Public outcry in the late 1960s and early 1970s put a halt to the worst of the point-source pollution and improved the appearance of the river, but runoff from agricultural fields, inadequate municipal sewage treatment, and other non-point sources continued to contaminate the water.

Now a major cleanup effort is under way. By starting at the top of the watershed and protecting the native wetlands that serve as a buffer and regenerator, the entire river and the neighborhoods around it should benefit. One of the significant environmental problems throughout the Detroit metropolitan area is stormwater capacity. Hundreds of square miles of land that once served as a natural sponge to absorb and filter water are covered with concrete and asphalt. They produce a deluge of runoff every time it rains, flooding storm sewers and sewage-treatment plants, resulting in overflows of raw sewage into the waterways. With millions of dollars already spent and millions more projected, a state-of-the-art sewage and storm system is expected to soften the effects of runoff and prevent quite so much waste from entering the Rouge and thus the Detroit River and Lakes Erie and Ontario.

Downriver from Detroit much of the shoreline of what was once industrial wasteland and degraded wetlands has been the subject of recent conservation efforts. Eighteen miles of the U.S. and Canada shores, from Zug Island to Lake Erie, will be restored and protected as an international wildlife refuge. Parks and recreation areas might someday replace industrial sites.

We passed through the Detroit River’s final “avenue” channel—a canalized shipping lane straight as a draftsman’s rule and lined with cement riprap—and were met by the cool, unmistakable scent of big water. Suddenly we were at the mouth of the river and all of Lake Erie lay before us. The clear water of the Detroit River merged with the nearly clear water of Erie until they were indistinguishable. Ahead as far as we could see was milky-green lake bounded by pink horizons.

The day was sunny, shirtsleeve warm, freshened by a fine south breeze. We raised the jib, foresail, and staysail and soon were making 6.3 knots. The morning forecast had promised afternoon thunderstorms, with winds of twenty to thirty knots, waves three to six feet. It seemed unlikely now.

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