I am so livid right now. I want to scream. I want to go downtown and yell at the Mayor. I want to find whoever thinks they are in charge of Economic Development and fire them. I want to tell both Mayoral candidates they have no clue what they are talking about either. Yes, I am damn mad!
I was greeted with the "USE THE RIVER" headline on the front of today's News-Sentinel. If you have not read the article about the upstart company called Fort Wayne Outfitters and Bike Depot then click below. Go, read the story and then come on back.
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070914/NEWS/709140327
I am sure owners Matt and Sara Machall, Cara and Tim Hall, and Will Rollings have put a ton of money into their business. The pre 1900 Cass Street Depot looks great. The chances are they had a good business plan and received help from all the great departments within from the City.
The question is, did they tell the city they figured on renting kayaks and canoes to be used on the Saint Mary's? My guess is they did, and even discussed with the city the clearing of a path down the bank to reach the river.
It is no secret that the Saint Mary's river is packed with the highest e-coli level of any river in Northeast Indiana. The e-coli can give you a sore throat, or upset your tummy, or put you in the hospital. Get dumped out of a canoe and you are asking for trouble. Accidentally swallow a mouthful of the stuff and you have improved your odds greatly of getting real ill. An open sore and you may be seeing your doctor in the next four to eight days.
So you ask how bad is the water? Try 20 times higher then the maximum level for full water contact swimming per Purdue. By EPA standards it is ten times higher then contact levels should be.
I am sure your are asking just where did I get my information and how old is it? Two good questions and I can direct you to one place for the answers. Try the city of Fort Wayne's own web site..... Check the date of the most recent report and what the CITY OF FORT WAYNE says is a safe level.....
http://www.cityoffortwayne.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=352&Itemid=451
The Purdue Report Is At: https://engineering.purdue.edu/SafeWater/watershed/ecoli.html#safe
Richards, Henry, Kelty, and the rest of you falling all over yourselves on promoting our rivers. Clean them up enough so they are safe to be near, then develop them.
I still don't feel any better!
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The St. Marys River has suffered from neglect for a number of years. The St. Joe has a watershed initiative and the Maumee River is addressed by the Maumee River Basin Commission.
While the Commission oversees all three rivers, the St. Marys is the one that seems to suffer from benign neglect.
The St. Marys is the river that most impacts downtown, so you would think that it would have been first and foremost on the minds of those supporting downtown development.
However, with the long overdue creation of the St. Marys Watershed Initiative, this situation will hopefully change.
I wonder, also, how a pathway to the river could have been cleared. The State owns the river banks, and I believe anything that impacts the river banks must have State approval.
When Halls expanded their outdoor lounge, they had to go in front of a board for permission. A hearing was held to allow comments. I am curious whether this was done in this case, or did the new entrepreneurs just assume that it wouldn't be an issue.
As far as health concerns, you are right on the issue of E. Coli. The St. Marys runs, almost totally, through farming country beginning at its source in Ohio and traveling northwest into Indiana.
By the time it hits Fort Wayne, the St. Marys has traveled about 120 miles through farm country, so I would assume that the high levels of E. Coli come from the agricultural runoff upstream.
Charlotte,
Thanks for posting. Very very valid points. Of course to our elected officals that often means nothing.
Looking at the sample points it is hard to say where the e-coli is coming from. My guess is your answer may be correct in it coming from farming.
Having said that it would be easy for our leaders to send someone to obtain additional water samples. They could sample the St. Mary's about half way to Dectur, just north of Dectur at the US 27 bridge, southest of Dectur, and then again at the Ohio line. Within a couple of days the results could be available.
What sort of surprised me it the high level the river maintains while runing through Fort Wayne. One would have to guess that Fort Wayne is allowing raw sewage to be dumped into the river on a daily basis.
If you go back to the City site you will see the St. Joseph count for e-coli drops as it runs through the city. The Maumee level of e-coli drops as it runs to the east. Now part of the Maumee is the result of the city sewage plant pumping millions of gallons of cleaned back into the river.
On the DNR note I wonder if the people obtained a Livery permit from the state?
Charlotte, the city left a contract to start the seperation of runoff and sewage for part of the Broadway area. They will be also building a bioswale. To which I know little about. So clean water may only be 10 or 20 years away.
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