The library and producer dennis golden. Narrator the Cuyahoga River, as most think of it, the brown stream that meets lake erie, an industrial waterway, its banks populated by steel mills and factories, its channels filled with ships and tugs. The Cuyahoga River, as it reaches lake erie, after a 100mile twisting and turning journey from its head waters is an exhausted stream, abused and misused by man and his machines. Without the cuyahoga, the sprawling megalopolis of clevelandakron would not exist. The river was the reason for originally settling this portion of the western reserve in the 1780s. The river, called crooked, by the delaware indians provided a waterway to the interior of ohio and so man came and continued coming. Until today, nearly two Million People live and work in the river basin. In creating this urban complex, man has used the river as men have always used rivers. The flow has been put to work as a navigable stream, a water supply and as a sewer. Mans mark is everywhere. Is this mark an epitaph for the cuyahoga, the Crooked River . Youre now going to see a documentary montage film of the cuyahoga. The rivers of this country belong to the people. What we do with them, the people should decide. There are many decisions that must be made in regards to your rivers. I would hope you participate in these decisions and see to it the rivers are cleaned up and are made most meaningful for all of the people that live in this region. Thank you. Narrator the cuyahoga very nearly encircles cleveland. Its 100mile water course etches an arc from the east, flowing south, curving west, worrying its way through the glacial valleys and flowing due north to lake erie. The river finds its beginning in two branches, the northernmost being the east branch located in a county north of highway 6. The source is hidden here in a wooded, marshy area. The shallow, quiet pools are barely visible. Even in the spring of the year, there is no observable flow of water. Yet, nudged by the slope and contour of the land, the water does begin to move, ever so slowly. Amazingly, within 100 yards of the beginning, the stream begins to take form. Here, the river is surrounded by wildlife and wild flowers. The river cannot hide in wooded seclusion for very long. A mile from its source, it breaks out into the open looking more like a tiny run than a river. The cuyahoga pushes its way to the south, largely ignored by man, who merely bridges the stream where roads must cross. The cuyahoga, true to its name, shows its crooked and wandering course almost immediately. Before the cuyahoga is five miles old, its still, clear waters are entrapped and made to function for man. The city of akron uses the river to furnish its water supply. To assure that the city will have enough throughout the cuyahogas watershed, three reservoirs impound the stream, capturing a portion and sometimes all of the flow. Here a billion and a half gallons of water can be held back, banked until the time a thirsty city needs it. The swollen steam, in addition to lying in wait until needed, is also used as a fishing, swimming and camping and recreational area. Downstream of the reservoir, the river is navigable until it meets the next reservoir, Lake Rockwell. In each spring, a group of avid river buffs take to their canoes and boats in a mass excursion, sponsored by bill gress are, the outdoor editor of the record courier. The annual downstream trip points out the recreational value of this section of the river. Occasionally, fallen trees block the stream, making navigation a bit difficult. From the banks of the river, the stream is fed fresh water from almost minute runoffs, as well as small creeks and runs. A lively current moves the water on, breaking out into a small falls near highland. And now, men and homes move close in on the river and with man comes his debris. Rivers have always been considered as handy dumping places. The cuyahoga is no exception. The abuse has just begun. By the time the stream reaches its destiny at lake erie, it will face the full fury of man and his machines. The small beginnings of industry now appear huddling on the banks of the river. Oil, not discharged to calm troubled waters, but just to be disposed of, symptoms of the disease that will kill the Crooked River. As the course of the cuyahoga inevitably brings it closer to cities and towns, nature still clings stubbornly on. Unable to work directly on the river because of pollution, a small colony of beaver have dammed up a tributary stream and have built a lodge. Beaver once were common along the river, but today there are only two known beaver colonies left on the stream. The beaver colonies have been replaced by ever advancing rows of suburban homes built right to the rivers edge. Home means sewage. Sewage means sometimes a Treatment Plant to cleanse the affluent before returning it to the river. Properly treated, discharges like this will not measurably harm the water. No treatment, or leaky septic tanks, will harm the water, however. This is the raw sewage flow from one home. Multiply this and the end product is a smelly offcolor rew that a stream can accept in only the smallest quantities. The city of akrons final reservoir is Lake Rockwell, located just north of kent, ohio. The point where highway 14 crosses the lake is a favorite fishing spot. Here, at the causeway, the current has deposited some of the debris brought downstream along with that contributed by inconsiderate fishermen. The way to learn, they say, is by watching. Dad lets junior see what its all about. Most of the water stored at Lake Rockwell is soon destined to leave the river. The artificial lake can impound up to two billion, 300 million gallons of water. To build a sufficient reserve for city needs, akron can halt the downstream flow completely if need be. The cuyahogas waters are akrons life blood. For more than 50 years, the city has been expanding a water Supply Reserve along the cuyahoga watershed. It is at this point that the city extracts its water from the river. As much as 75 million gallons can be pumped out of storage daily. Formerly, after treatment, the residue of water pumped back out into the river was pretty much instant mud and solid. Now, however, the installation of new sludge or settling beds permits clear water to return to the stream. Water quality downstream is much better as a result. Downstream of Lake Rockwell is kent. Here, again, the river is dammed. The installation of the sludge basins at the akron Treatment Plant has made a marked improvement in the water at kent. Outdoorsman bill prichard proves a point. The public pressure to put in the treatment was due to a oneman campaign raised by gresser. A small mouth bass proves that stream fish have come back to this point of the cuyahoga. Of course just downstream from kent, that city makes its own contribution to the river. The kent plant is currently working at over capacity. When a Treatment Plant is pushed by too much volume, there is only one immediate solution put it through faster. The shorter the treatment, the more impure the end product. The problem faced by the city of kent is typical. The only answer, expansion. 2. 5 million are being spent to expand the plant. By 1980, its estimated another addition will be needed. The cuyahoga moves on, flowing west now. Dammed again at the misnamed monroe falls, the river serves a paper manufacturing plant. On the north side of akron, the crooked cuyahoga makes its way into the city of cuyahoga falls. Once again, civilization and people mean industry and industrial waste. At high water in the spring, the tumbling, Rushing Water pushing downstream is a sight to behold. As it courses through here, the river drops an astounding 225 feet at a mile and a half. Slowly, the river turns north on the terminal stage of its trip to the mouth and lake erie. North of akron, and far from Lake Rockwell, a portion of the water removed from there is now returned to the river. 60 million to 75 million gallons of sewage pass through here every day. The treated affluent is again aerated to add more oxygen to the water, separating the detergent, creating mountains of suds. But also in the water are phosphates, nitrogens, unremoved waste and bacteria, all more harmful than the visible form. Further downstream, clevelands southerly Treatment Plant will add another 75 million gallons of affluent to the rivers load each day. At this point, half of the volume of the stream is effluent from the akron plant. During lowflow conditions, as much as 85 is disgorged directly from the plant. Like many other Treatment Plants, akrons is laboring over capacity. With postpetition proposed treatments can be improved, but for now the hidden and invisible waste will multiply as the cuyahoga flows to the lake. As the cuyahoga twists and turns its way north, man and manufacturing are more in evidence. An unlikely sight. These cars are not dumped here for disposal. They are here for a purpose. The river lives up to its name. It is crooked, and because it is a living thing, the stream keeps cutting into the banks, eroding itself an ever curving path. To hold back the itching fingers of water from the banks, the body shells are placed as bumpers. Not aesthetically pleasing, but they hold back the erosive waters. This car however doesnt serve a purpose. It was just conveniently disposed of here. Framed gracefully by a towering highway bridge, the cuyahoga moves on now to meet the final hurdle on its journey. 94 miles old with only six miles to live, the cuyahoga emerges to face a sixmile long channel dredged into the face of the land. By this time the waters are legally dead. 35 Treatment Plants have added their affluent to the stream. Much of that discharge has been treated. S inadequately industries have used and reused the declining waters until it is so bad that industries downstream must clean the water before they can put it to their own uses. Of the 41 industries discharging directly into the cuyahoga, 19 bear the onus of having been singled out the for inadequately treating their waste. Because the manmade channel to the lake has disturbed the Natural Current flow, the waters of the cuyahogas industrial flat area move very slowly. It may take water from eight to 30 days to move through the channel to the lake. During lowflow conditions, the cuyahoga has been known to smell. Lack of flow, along with the staggering load of pollutants and solids that the stream must carry, make this inevitable at times. The task of keeping the dredged channel clear of accumulated solids to a depth of 23 feet is a major expense in itself. This depth allows the large lake freighters and ore carriers to berth in the river. Clamshell dredges work during most of the season. They slush up more than 800,000 cubic yards of silt each year. Dredges of the army corps of engineers work over the outer harbor. 400,000 yards of sludge are pulled from that area every year. To keep the channel your costs to keep the channel clear costs nearly 1 million a year. With akron demanding more and more water and at Times Holding back the stream at Lake Rockwell, there isnt enough water to go around in the cuyahoga. It has been proposed, and not in jest, that at some time in the foreseeable future, a pipeline will have to connect the head waters with lake erie so that enough water can be provided for the needs of the cities and industries along the banks. A river can be worked to death, and the cuyahoga has been. A growing industrial and municipal demand that saps the stream to the limit. The cuyahoga can never again be expected to be as scenic and entirely healthful stream at its terminus, but it could be restored to a good working condition. The techniques to cleanse the river are available, but the cost in dollars to industry and municipality staggers the imagination. The task of cleaning up the river can be likened to that of sweeping the r. G. And stables of sweeping stables. The question is, will it ever be done . Industry and governments have a stake and a sayso. The wheels of change turn exceedingly slow. Industry, with an eye on net profit, is reluctant to move with less than absolute pressure. Municipalities, feeling the pulse of the tax rate and bonding limits, look twice before leaping. While the conferences and committees continue, the dying flow to lake erie goes on. Announcer 1 the Crooked River, an epilogue is an update to the film we just showed. Wkyctv cleveland returned to Cuyahoga River to see how things changed after five years. The camera observed progress, but the filmmakers argue that much more needs to be done, and the river still dies as it approaches lake erie. The film is featured on montage, an Award Winning documentary series which aired from september 1965 september 1978 and is now archived at the Michael Schwartz library at the Cleveland State university. Its presented courtesy of the goulden, whoennis directed and filmed this episode. Narrator there are not many scenes such as this anymore. You really have to look for them. And in the looking, you will discover that our environment is not the endless spring our forefathers thought it was. Five years ago, montage sought out this kind of scene. We went to the closest major waterway we knew in the area of
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