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October 20, 2007

Susquehanna gets health check

Combined sewage overflows put the Susquehanna at top of Most Endangered Rivers list in 2005.

By Tom Venesky tvenesky@timesleader.com
Sports Reporter
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As Don Williams led a group of officials from the national conservation organization American Rivers down the Susquehanna River on Friday, he wanted to show them the good, the bad, and yes, the ugly.

The group saw plenty of “good” things, such as an immature bald eagle and an osprey that slammed the river’s surface to snag a fish. They saw the “bad” – as in the Old Forge Borehole and Duryea Borehole. And there was plenty of “ugly” to be found in the numerous CSOs – combined sewage overflows – that emerge from the banks of the river as concrete pipes.

Friday’s trip was made to highlight those aspects and to give American Rivers – the group that put the Susquehanna at the top of its Most Endangered Rivers List in 2005, a chance to see firsthand if the river still lives up to the designation today.

“I wanted them to see what we have here,” said Williams, who is a river advocate from Harleysville. “I wanted them to see the impacts of the mining industry, the CSOs and the river’s ability to cleanse itself.”

Sara Deuling, associate director for American River’s Pennsylvania office, paddled one of the 14 kayaks down the river from Harding to Nesbitt Park in Wilkes-Barre. The 15-mile journey was full of positives, she said, but the same threats that led the group to name the Susquehanna the most endangered river still loomed.

“As we paddled we saw the CSOs and acid mine drainage discharges, and we are still concerned about the proposed inflatable dam,” Deuling said. “It still has some of the challenges it had when we made the designation, but it also has hope.”

Hope as in a recent announcement by U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, that $20 million has been earmarked to separate sewage from storm-water pipes, thus correcting some of the CSOs that empty into the river.

And the dubious label attached to the river in 2005 didn’t come without progress, Deuling said. Soon after the designation was made, a proposed rule by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to allow sewage to enter the river in a diluted form was overturned, she said.

Deuling also pointed to other positive developments as she pulled her kayak up the Nesbitt Park boat launch, such as the construction on the opposite side of the river where heavy machinery pushed earth to build portals for riverfront access in the downtown.

“I think the portals and the riverfront park is a better idea than a dam in terms of reconnecting people with the river,” Deuling said. “The river is being celebrated in a lot of ways, such as the new water trail, the parks and the annual RiverFest. Part of the inflatable dam debate is that no one’s using the river, and that’s really not the case.”

Tom Venesky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7230.

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