That meets lake erie, an industrial waterway, its banked populated by steel mills and factories. Its channel filled with ships and trucks. 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 megalopias 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 2 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 . You are now going to see a documentary montage film of the cuyahoga. Rivers in this country belong to the people. What we do with them, the people should decide. There are many decisions that must be made with regard to your rivers. I 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 who live in this region, thank you. The cuyahoga very nearly encircles cleveland. Its 100mile water course etches an arc from the east, flowing south, curving west, whirring its way through the glacial valleys and then flowing due north to lake erie. The river finds its beginning in two branches, the northern most being the east branch located in geauga 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 on 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 wildflowers. 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 5 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 cuyahoga 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 stream in addition to lying in wait until needed is also used as a fishing, swimming and camping recreational area. Downstream of the reservoir near the village of bergen, the river is navigable until it meets the next reservoir, Lake Rockwell. Each spring a group of river buffs take to their canoes and boats in a mass excursion sponsored by the outdoor editor of the canton, ohio, 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 hiram, 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 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 everadvancing roads of suburban homes built right to the rivers edge. Homes mean 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 brew that a stream can accept only in 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 that 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 2,300,000,000 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. Formally after treatment, the residue of water pumped back out into the river was pretty much instant mud and solids. 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, this outdoorsman proves the point. The public pressure on akron to put in the treatment basins was in large degree due to a oneman campaign raised by this outdoorsman. A small mouth bass, proof that game 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 overcapacity. 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. Skirting the north side of akron, the crooked cuyahoga next makes its way into the city of cuyahoga falls. Once again civilization and people mean industry and industrial wastes. 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 in 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 has now returned to the river. 60 to 75 million gallons of sewage pass through here every day. The treated affluent is aerated to add more oxygen to the water. This creates mountains of suds. But also in the water are phosphates, nitrogen, unremoved wastes and bacteria. Further downstream, the Treatment Plant will add another 75 million gallons to the rivers load each day. At this point, half of the volume of the stream is affluent from the akron plant. During low flow conditions as much as 85 of the rivers water is discharged directly from the plant. Akrons is laboring over capacity. With proposed additions treatment can be improved. For now, the hidden invisible waste will continue to multiple as the Cuyahoga River 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 inching fingers of the water from the banks, these cars are placed as buffers. They effectively hold back the erosive waters. This car, however, doesnt serve a purpose. It was just conveniently disposed of here. Framed by a towering highway bridge, the cuyahoga moves on now to meet the final hurdle of 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 the time the waters of the Crooked River are legally dead. 35 Treatment Plants have added their affluent to the stream, much of that discharge has been classed as inadequately treated. Industries have used and reused the declining waters until the quality 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 for inadequately treating their wastes. Because the manmade channel to the lake has disturbed the current flow, the waters of the cuyahogas industrial flats area move very slowly. It may take water from 8 to 30 days to move from the channel to the lake. During low flow conditions, the cuyahoga has been known to smell. Lack of flow along with pollutants and solvents the stream unfortunate carry make it inevitable at times. The task of keeping the dredged channel clear of the cumulated solids to a depth of 23 feet is a major expense in itself. This depth allows the large lake freighters and ore carriers to birth the river. Clam shell dredges work the channel during most of the shipping season, they slush up more than 800,000 cubic yards of silt each year. Dredges of the army corps of engineers work this area. 400,000 yards of sludge are pulled from that area every year. To keep the channel clear costs nearly 1 million each year. With akron demanding more and more water and at Times Holding back the stream at Lake Rockwell, there just isnt enough water to go around in the cuyahoga. Its been proposed and not in jesh that sometime in a foreseeable future a plain will have to connect the waters so enough water can be provide for the needs of the cities along the bank. A river can be worked to death, and the cuyahoga has been. A growing industrial and municipal demand has zapped the stream to the limit. The cuyahoga could be restored to a good working condition, the techniques for cleansing the river are available, but the cost in dollars to both industry and municipality staggers. The task of cleaning up the river is similar to cleaning up the aegean stables. The question is, will it ever be done . Industry, federal, state and local governments all 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 leaving. While the conferences and committees continue, the dying flow to lake erie goes on. 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 thing our forefathers thought it was. Five years ago, montage sought out this kind of scene. We went to the closest major