From Pollution to Pristine.

The Charles River.

If you were to walk along the infamous Charles River in Boston and the Thames in London just 60 years ago, you would’ve noticed a huge difference compared to today, and not a good one. It would’ve looked murky and cloudy and full of dangerous metals and chemicals. You probably wouldn’t even want to walk near the Charles River, because some riverbanks were covered in trash from landfills!

Now, it’s a completely different story. You can now safely swim in both of these once chemical-laden rivers! So how did these toxic dumps transform into pristine waterways?

Pollution in the Charles River.

Bostonian Background.

Back in 1959, Boston’s waterways had low water levels, grimy sewage merged with rainwater to be cleaned at treatment facilities. But when there was intense rain, those pipes would get clogged up, meaning that the mucky sewage-rainwater mixture flowed right into the Charles. The inefficient underground sewage system combined with uncontrolled railyard oil pollution, industrial waste, and

garbage from landfills all culminated in 1.7 billion gallons of wastewater swirling around in the river.

The river was so filthy that Boston locals started joking that you would need a tetanus shot if you fell into it. During that time, the Standells also released the Boston anthem “Dirty Water”, you can probably guess what they’re singing about. The chorus of that song was “Well I love that dirty water. Boston you’re my home.” There clearly needed to be change.

The rapid recovery.

In the 1980s, the pollution took hold of Boston Harbor and major litigations started to surface. That’s when conservationists and the EPA sued the state of Massachusetts over the level of pollution in the river, which resulted in more than $4.5 billion of mitigation projects. That huge pool of money was used for a massive waste-treatment facility and the improvement of 100 miles of fault sewage pipes and storm drains.

Deer Island Waste Water Treatment Plant in Boston, MA.

That wasn’t it. In the following decade, the EPA launched the Clean Charles Initiative, partnering with various non-profits to locate problematic connections between pipes. The goal? To make the Charles River both fishable and swimmable.

It’s been a blow-out success. In 1995, the EPA water quality grade for the Charles was a D, but now, most of the river gets As and Bs! It’s now recognized as one of the world’s best-managed rivers and a multitude of species call it home. If there was a “most improved river award”, the river would certainly be in contention.

Conservationists’ correlated Challenges

People have realized the importance of reviving our rivers and it has prompted freshwater scientists to push the EPA to protect marshes and swamps. I would compare those marshes and swamps to ants, I know, sounds odd, but hear me out. Marshes and swamps cover only 6% of the US landscape, but they do so much for having such a small footprint. The thick soil saturated with water that plants grow in acts as a natural trap and also as a nursery for aquatic life.

It’s like how ants do so much for how little they weigh. Fun fact, did you know that ants are able to lift objects 5,000 times their weight?

Wetland area at Rock Run Preserve.

“The Thames” on the Tombstone?

On the other side of the pond is the Thames river of London, England. Why would I be on the tombstone? Well, in the late 1950’s it was considered biologically dead. Many described it as foul, not a scent you want to smell near a river. Newspaper titles of that period told a frightening story. A Manchester Guardian heading in 1959 was: “No oxygen is to be found in it (the Thames)for several miles above and below London Bridge.”

Victorian Era sewage waterways.

Environmental issues clearly weren’t a concern in the Victorian era, where industrial waste, untreated sewage, slaughterhouses’ waste were all routed into the Thames. Then, during the World War II, frequent bombings destroyed old Victorian sewers, eliminating a fundamental tool for keeping the waters clean.

If you were to fall into the river Thames in the 1950s, you have to be immediately admitted to the hospital to have your stomach pumped.

High-ranking officials of the British government proved to be ignorant when discussing the topic. One member of the house of lords claimed that cleaning the water was unnecessary and that rivers were “natural channels for the disposal of waste,” and letting them break up organic waste gave them “something to do.”

The River Thames.

Back from the dead.

Beginning in the late 1960s however, the Thames experienced a modern-day renaissance. Thanks to technological innovations like digital photography, metal toxicity in the river decreased, especially silver. And as many parts of the country recovered from the war, so did the Thames. Water treatment facilities were improved, Sewage treatment plants were upgraded, and industrial discharges were removed. Environmental awareness and concerns over pesticides and fertilizers flowing into the river during rainfalls allowed the water to breathe again.

Oxygen had been reintroduced into the Thames!