New Rouge River Book Provides Hope for Urban River Restoration!

The mid-1980s was a tipping point in Metro Detroit’s Rouge River watershed. Scientists had documented the river’s grossly polluted conditions and warned that if nothing was done it could result in irreversible harm to this ecosystem. Communities and citizens rose to the cleanup challenge and today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency heralds it as a national model of river restoration.

Two environmental crises led to this tipping point. First, residents of Melvindale and Dearborn complained of a pungent acrid smell near the river. Upon scientific investigation, it was determined that the river was so polluted that all the oxygen in the river was used up by the bacterial decomposition of raw sewage. In the absence of oxygen, hydrogen sulfide – the smell of rotten eggs – was off-gassing from the river. Even the most pollution-tolerant fish, like carp, were dying in the river because they had no oxygen to breathe.

Second, a tragic accident occurred when a 23-year-old man fell into the Rouge River, swallowed water, and died of an infection from a rare waterborne bacterial disease called leptospirosis or rat fever. Health departments had no choice but to ban human contact with the river. Something had to be done to respond to this critical human health and environmental crisis.

In response, all 48 watershed communities, three counties, state and federal governments, concerned citizens, industries, and nongovernmental organizations like Friends of the Rouge came together to clean up their river and better steward their watershed. The response was nothing less than amazing. Over $1 billion has been spent on this cleanup thus far. Today, oxygen conditions in the river have improved, fish are returning, peregrine falcons have returned at the river mouth, beaver are once again being seen on the riverbanks, and the river is being rediscovered as a recreational resource.

The story of this dramatic ecological revival is told in a new book titled "Rouge River Revived: How People are Bringing Their River Back to Life." It is edited by John Hartig and Jim Graham, with chapters written by individuals intimately involved in the day-to-day process of Rouge River restoration. It was published by the University of Michigan Press.

“The book’s well-documented and well-told stories are beacons of hope in difficult environmental times,” notes Dave Dempsey, Senior Advisor to the nonprofit advocacy group called For the Love of Water. If the Rouge River can be revived from its incendiary (it actually caught on fire in 1969) and grossly polluted past, it can be done elsewhere.

If you are interested in learning more about how this river revival is being achieved and what needs to be done to complete restoration efforts and achieve the long-term goal of sustainability, then this book is a must-read.

"Rouge River Revived" is available at: https://www.press.umich.edu/12059356/rouge_river_revived.