My neighbor who lives on the next street over tells a story about the Ohio River. He and his friend’s son hang out on Sunday afternoons. This how they spent one of them. One Sunday afternoon during a flood, they went down to Cox’s Park to scavenge for interesting debris that the river had washed up. That day they discovered the water that habitually pools during a flood at the park. There are drains that allow the water to drain back into the river, but they take a while, and on this particular day, there were 25 large fish trapped in one of the small ponds. The boy wanted to save the fish from the death they’d face when the waters receded, so they found some trash cans, filled them up with catfish and river carp, and hauled them, flopping around inside the plastic vessel, 200 feet to the river bank. They bucketed fish for an hour and a half, and then called it quits, leaving only 5 fish in the pond unsaved.
A sign on every TARC bus reads “Transit Authority of River City.” As we move through our sprawling city, whether by car, bike, or the busses themselves, we’re reminded that Louisville is a river city. Look at a map, and our city hugs the river line, as the Ohio makes its way southbound towards where it joins the Mississippi. The Ohio River is central to our city’s identity as a place. There are some Louisvillians who work, live, or play often along the river. There are also many who don’t touch, smell, or see the river but a few times each year. For these people, it’s hard to remember that the river is there, just a few miles to the northwest – or to the southeast, for those in Indiana.
But the river is there, always moving, whether or not we see it doing so. It carries cargo, efficiently moving freight down and upriver. It travels through pipes to our faucets and spigots, providing the most essential nourishment we need as humans, water. The health of the river is tied to the health of our city. The less we encounter the river, the less of a place it holds when we think of home, when we think of Louisville. If we have no stories to tell about the river, like freeing some fish after they’ve been washed up after a flood, it becomes less a part of our identity as Louisvillians.
There is a history of this place that reaches back before the city of Louisville was established. “You can almost walk across the Ohio River there at the mouth of silver creek,” said Al Goodman, owner of the Loop Island Wetlands in southern Indiana. Before permanent human settlement and the extirpation of bison from this region, the Falls of the Ohio were part of a significant migration route. Herds of bison could cross the river at the Falls, and Native Americans in search of meat would follow.
Historically, Louisville is a city tied fast to its Ohio River. George Rogers Clark founded the first settlement in 1778 that would later become Louisville. This first settlement was located near the Falls of the Ohio. At the Falls, the water drops 26 feet over the course of two miles, making it the only navigable barrier on the Ohio River. Before overland transportation, it was our rivers that carried goods across the country. Traffic coming both upriver and downriver had to stop, unload their cargo, navigate their vessel through the falls, and then reload to continue carrying their freight to its destination. Such an ordeal would’ve required substantial infrastructure to support the people, goods, and ships moving through daily. That original shipping port is what is now Louisville and Clarksville, across the river.
Centuries after this founding of our city, we’re still here, though we, and our river, are both changed. And our relationship has changed. What was once a significant economic center is now a backdrop for what’s happening father inland, in office parks and skyscrapers. Our economy demands a faster pace than a few miles per hour of river flow. More freight comes in and out of Louisville via air, with significant airport hubs located on the edge of the city. Our city is today less tied and less fixed economically to the Ohio River.
Al Goodman has worked alongside the river for over 20 years, which is something of an anachronism today. He worked as an environmental consultant for Moser Tannery, helping design its industrial wastewater treatment system. Next to the tannery is the largest piece of preserved wetlands along this stretch of the Ohio River. The Loop Island Wetlands are named for an island that formed inside of a large oxbow in the Silver Creek, which pours out into the Ohio River at the Falls of the Ohio. The island, pond, creek, and river form 47 acres of the Loop Island Wetlands.
Goodman has worked in the same place along the Ohio River for over 20 years, and is a keeper of that place’s human and environmental history. “A tremendous amount of products that we utilize as a society move down that river daily,” Goodman said. From where he’s located, he can see the locks and dams that allow barges to safely traverse the Falls with their cargo. Goodman also understands the importance of a human connection with the river, apart from any economic dependence. Visitors to the Loop Island Wetlands are able to get close to the river, closer than on the Kentucky side, where the Locks and Dams create a barrier to the water. “We all like water,” Goodman said, “the river is important from an aesthetic standpoint.” He noted the value of being near a large body of water, and the businesses and parks that are beginning to realize that value.
Waterfront Park and the Greenway Project both make an effort to connect people to the Ohio River. While the Waterfront Park is in its third and final stage with the Big 4 Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge inches away from completion, the Greenway Project just across the river is in the middle stages of its development. Like the Waterfront Park, the Greenway Project would allow for public access to the Ohio River.
The ultimate goal of the Ohio River Greenway Project is to create an 11 to 12 mile loop that connects all four communities along this portion of the Ohio River: Louisville, Jeffersonville, Clarksville, and New Albany. Trails along the Waterfront Park would link to those along Indiana’s Greenway via the Big 4 and K & I railroad bridges. The entire pathway would provide common space that is free to the public for common recreational use. With more access points along the river, there is sure to be more interaction between our communities and the river that has made us.
George Sims spends time both by and on the river. Sims has been sailing on the Ohio River for the past 30 years. “A lot of times when I tell people that I sail here on the Ohio River, they say, ‘The Ohio River? You can’t sail on the Ohio River.’ Well, obviously we do. It’s better than nothing, and I’ve had a blast on the Ohio River. I love it,” Sims said. When I spoke with him, he was on his boat at its mooring site. Louisvillians like Sims are sailing, rowing, and kayaking their way along the great Ohio River. Through recreation, they’re experiencing the river on a regular basis, learning its nuances, gaining a respect for its strength.
River sailing is different than sailing on a lake or ocean. “Basically you sail up and down the river, which means you become very good at tacking,” Sims said. River sailors develop a set of new skills that allow for movement along the long, rather than a wide body of water, like a river. “I’ve learned about the floods and I’ve learned about the currents,” Sims continued, as both affect his ability to sail up and down the river. Sims also carries a certain knowledge of the river’s history, unique to his own experiences there as a sailor.
Sims recounted a story about an old resort that used to be located on 14-mile Island, upriver from Louisville. The resort had an amusement park and hotel, and was a weekend destination for Louisvillians coming from downtown on riverboats. “I actually went up there when my son was little and we traced around – we could see the old swimming pool and some of the old buildings,” Sims said. In spending time on the river, Sims knows the forgotten histories of this place.
“The Ohio River got its name from an Iroquois word that meant beautiful river. It is and can be a very beautiful river,” said Judy Petersen, executive director for the Kentucky Waterways Alliance. Petersen highlights why many people choose to spend time near the Ohio River, but also the realities of increased pollution in many places along the river. Kentucky Waterways Alliance, whose mission is to protect and restore Kentucky’s waterways, has been working with the Ohio River for several years, evaluating water quality and the regulations that ensure its continued improvement.
Kentucky Waterways Alliance (KWA) focuses on the 655 miles stretch of the Ohio River that forms Kentucky’s northern border. In 2006, the organization successfully fought a proposal that would allow sewer districts in large cities along the river to legally discharge higher levels of bacteria into the water. Since 2006, KWA has been working with an informal coalition of other environmental groups to continue to protect and restore the Ohio.
“The water quality certainly hasn’t gotten any worse,” Petersen said. “I think there are certainly some places where it has improved.” Goodman can attest to this fact, as he remembers higher levels of pollution from his childhood growing up in Clarksville, Indiana. “I can remember when they painted the Kennedy Bridge. I put my fishing line in and it pulled up silver paint,” Goodman said, noting the lack of regulation surrounding the bridge’s painting.
Today, regulations are more strict. Still, there are still strides to be made to help preserve the health of the Ohio River. The biggest concern for KWA, Peterson explained, is mercury pollution. The multi-state commission that oversees the regulations for the Ohio River, ORSANCO, is considering a request from a company in West Virginia which would increase the legal levels of mercury that can be discharged into the river. What happens in West Virginia would certainly affect the river here in Louisville, as we’re located downstream.
“Something like bacteria comes and goes in the river, but mercury is inorganic, it stays in the water, and not only does it stay in the water and sediment, it does what they call bioaccumulate,” Petersen said. Organisms at the bottom of the food chain consume the mercury, and as larger organisms consume higher quantities of smaller organisms, the level of mercury in each larger organism increases. Mercury is a neurotoxin and affects the brain, as well as fetal development, Petersen continued. Mercury pollution is a concern because of the fish and other species we consume that come from the river. It’s also a concern for smaller communities whose water filtration systems are less sophisticated and less capable of removing the mercury from the water.
In addition to water quality, Petersen notes the ecological impact of the locks and dams that dot the Ohio River as it makes its way towards the Gulf. KWA has plans to investigate ways to minimize their ecological impact without damaging the ability of those systems to provide navigation and flood control.
Petersen sees the Ohio River as an ecological system whose benefits we can’t yet fully understand. The Ohio River is home for a number of endangered mussel species. “There are things like mussels that clean the water; each day they ingest gallons of water, cleaning it,” Petersen said. We don’t pay for those kinds of ecological services, but might have to if they disappear.
No one can tell the future, what kind of role the Ohio River might play in the life of our city in 20 or 50 or 100 years. The future both near and far away remains uncertain, given the current ecological and economic climate.
Climate scientists show best-case scenarios for what will happen to regular weather patterns if we continue to carry on as if there’s no impending ecological crisis. Those scenarios are grim, and we wonder if we’re already experiencing those effects. 2011 showed a record for rainfall 20 inches above average. Despite this, we continue to drive through the sprawling beltways that connect us throughout our city – out of necessity, to get to work, to school, to the grocery. That driving adds to the cause of climate change, and ignores the changes that need to be made before they have to be made.
Compounded with the ecological crisis is an economic one, as oil becomes more expensive and global economies weaken. When oil becomes less available and what is there is hard to extract and requires processing, it will become significantly more expensive, and its effects will be felt throughout the world. Economies might become more localized and then, we might just reconnect with that constantly flowing and moving mass of water. If our local economy wants to interact with those of neighboring cities and states, the river might seem like the most efficient option to transport goods and people.
The Falls of the Ohio created a riverside economy that evolved into the city we know today, one that is much less reliant on the river that made it. The river’s history alone suggests a long-term connection with the nature and culture surrounding it, with the landscape that we now define as “Louisville.” As we continue to thrive alongside one of the greatest inland waterways in North America, perhaps our community should reconsider our relationship with the Ohio River. Perhaps we’ll have to.
– Caroline Stephens
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Louisville’s most important mile is sullied by a hideously ugly 1950s style elevated waterfront expressway. This eyesore results in an image defining gateway, that is completely inadequate to compete in the 21st century. It is not imperative that Louisville remove the freeway from its river but it is vital that the city have a plan to at the very least build a context sensitive road that moves traffic while presenting a marketable face to the world.