America’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2005 ten rivers reaching the crossroads in the next 12 months WWW.AMERICANR IVERS. ORG AOL KEYWORD: A MERICAN R IVERS 20th Anniversary Edition 20 Years of Saving Rivers With this edition of the America’s Most Endangered Rivers report, American Rivers celebrates 20 years of cooperative action to highlight rivers across the country facing pressing threats and uncer- tain futures. The first of its kind, this annual effort has contributed to a long and growing list of vic- tories — saving rivers and the benefits they provide: clean water, public health, wildlife populations, economic opportunity, and opportunities for family outdoor fun. The America’s Most Endangered Rivers report is the voice of large and growing watershed protection and restoration movement. American Rivers solicits nominations annually from thousands of river groups, conservation organizations, outdoor clubs, and individual activists. Over the past 20 years, 399 organizations have participated in the effort. Our staff and scientific advisors review the nominations for the following criteria: ■ The magnitude of the threat to the river ■ A major turning point in the coming year ■ The regional and national significance of the river This report is more than a warning: it offers solutions, identifies those who have the power to save the river, and highlights opportunities for the public to speak out. This year, American Rivers thanks and recognizes Bert and Barbara Cohn, whose financial support has made this campaign possible for the past ten years. “Every child should have the opportunity to swim or fish in a nearby river or stream,” the Cohns say. By spreading the word about threats to our rivers, and highlighting rivers in the most precarious of situations, the Cohns hope more attention will be paid to our water sources before they become endangered. about american rivers American Rivers, founded in 1973, is the leader of a nationwide river conservation movement. American Rivers is dedicated to protecting and restoring healthy natural rivers, and the variety of life they sustain, for the benefit of people, fish and wildlife. On the Cover: The concentrations of pollutants shown on the front cover label do not necessarily reflect a national average, and will vary depending on the region, type of sewer and treatment system, and the volume of stormwater in the system. The current numbers are based on a moderate climate with moderate rainfall, and were obtained from the U.N. Department of Technical Cooperation for Development. Printed on 20 percent post-consumer recycled paper, using the waterless printing process. Waterless printing conserves water and eliminates the use of volatile compounds (VOCs), linked to the deterioration of the ozone layer, used in con- ventional printing. Table of Contents Introduction When It Rains, Sewage Pours . .2 Map: Most Endangered Rivers of 2005 . .6 Most Endangered Rivers (by rank) 1. Susquehanna River . .7 2. McCrystal Creek . .10 3. Fraser River . .12 4. Skykomish River . .14 5. Roan Creek . .16 6. Santee River . .18 7. Little Miami River . .20 8. Tuolumne River . .22 9. Price River . .24 10. Santa Clara River . .26 20 years of saving rivers together . .28 When it Rains, Sewage Pours This is the situation along the Susquehan- na River — which tops this year’s America’s Most Endangered Rivers list. One hundred and twenty three major sewer systems in the Susquehanna River watershed link toilets and faucets from New York to Maryland. Where the Susquehanna widens and becomes the AMERICAN RIVERS PHOTO LIBRARY Chesapeake Bay, vanishing sea grasses and dwindling seafood harvests provide evidence of poor sewage treatment and frequent sewage spills upstream. A Threat to Human Health Untreated human sewage teems with salmo- nella, hepatitis, dysentery, cryptosporidium, and many other infectious diseases. One hun- dred years ago, epidemics of these diseases helped limit the life expectancy of a U.S. citi- zen to about 50 years. Estimates vary for how many people sewage still sickens or kills each year, but they are all large. Germs linger even after the stench of sewage has dispersed. Healthy adults may never realize that yesterday’s swim caused SEWER SPILLS AND Where does human waste mingle today’s cough, diarrhea, or ear infection. OVERFLOWS THREATEN with household chemicals, per- Young children, their grandparents, and people TO MAKE LIFE’S SIMPLEST sonal hygiene products, pharmaceuticals, and already weakened by illness are more likely to PLEASURES UNSAFE. everything else that goes down the drains in become seriously ill or die. Scientists believe American homes and businesses? In sewers. as many as 3.5 million Americans get sick And what can you get when rain, pesti- each year after swimming, boating, fishing, or cides, fertilizers, automotive chemicals, and otherwise touching water they thought was trash run off the streets and down the gutters safe. A 1998 study published in the Interna- into those very same sewers? Sewage backing tional Journal of Epidemiology blamed water up into people’s basements. Sewage spilling pollution for one-third of all reported gas- onto streets and parks. Sewage pouring into troenteritis cases and two-thirds of all ear rivers and streams. infections. Each year, more than 860 billion gallons of It’s not just the people who play in and this vile brew escapes sewer systems across around the water who are at risk. Between the country. That’s enough to flood all of 1985 and 2000, the Centers for Disease Con- Pennsylvania ankle-deep. It’s enough for every trol (CDC) documented 251 separate disease American to take one bath each week for an outbreaks and nearly half a million cases of entire year. waterborne illness from polluted drinking After bursting out of a pipe or manhole water in the United States. Another study by cover, this foul slurry pollutes the nearest the CDC and the National Academy of Sci- body of water. Downstream, some of it may ences concluded that most illnesses caused by be pumped out, treated, and piped into more eating tainted seafood have human sewage as homes and businesses. From there, it goes the root cause. back into a sewer system, and the cycle The price of sewage spills isn’t just mea- resumes. sured by the number of illnesses and deaths. 2 ◆ America’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2005 Recreational economies like those in Winter Park and Granby, Colo. could suffer if sewage makes the Fraser River (#3 on this year’s list) unapplealing or unsafe to swim and fish in. ANDREW HARVEY There are countless rural towns in the same position nationwide. The prognosis is for these problems to get worse… and soon. Treatment Plants from Yesteryear To understand why this is happening, it’s helpful to know some history. For centuries most American sewage poured into the near- est river or creek with little or no treatment, and few people gave it a second thought. That changed when Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972 and the federal government began making significant investments to mod- Runaway Development SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANTS ernize sewage treatment infrastructure serving Today communities across the country. NATIONWIDE CAN’T KEEP Today, many of the plants built with that Poorly planned development compounds the UP WITH RAPID, POORLY- initial investment are undersized or are near problem of aging infrastructure. As urban areas PLANNED DEVELOPMENT. the end of their effective lives. There are sprawl into the countryside, new expanses of 600,000 miles of sewer pipes across the coun- concrete and asphalt increase the amount of try and the average age is 33 years. Some pipes stormwater surging into sewers — and the in cities along the eastern seaboard are nearly amount of pollution spewing out. 200 years old. Some are even made of wood. In Consider this: A single acre of wetlands can 2001, The American Society of Civil Engi- hold up to 1.5 million gallons of rain or melt- neers gave America’s wastewater infrastruc- ing snow. When that wetland is replaced by a ture a “D” grade overall. parking lot or big box store, that water runs off and often winds up in the sewer sys- tem. Trees help keep water out of 3.5 million Americans sewer systems, too. In fact, the group get sick each year USDA NRCS American Forests estimates that as Washington, D.C.’s tree canopy after swimming, thinned by 43 percent between 1973 and 1997, the amount of stormwater boating, fishing, or running into the city’s aging sewer otherwise touching system increased by 34 percent. In the 1980s and 1990s, a boom in water they thought low-density, poorly planned develop- ment devoured millions of acres of was safe. wetlands, forest, and other habitat across the country. American Rivers estimates that metro Atlanta, for example, now contends with an additional 56 to 132 billion gallons more stormwater each year than it did before 1982. That’s as many as three and a half tanker trucks of polluted water running into the Introduction ◆ 3 When it Rains, Sewage Pours continued “Clean water sewer for each resident each year. Older without this level of sewage systems combine stormwater with investment, sewage prob- has no local household sewage, but even in systems where lems could return to boundaries… they are separated some stormwater ends up 1970s levels by 2016. in the sewer, where it contributes to raw This is a job that is too Americans sewage overflows. big for states and localities The compounding problems of aging sys- to do on their own, and believe this tems and new development are illustrated by the public knows it. is a national Ohio’s Little Miami River (#7 on this year’s “Clean water has no list).