Sticking Their Heads In The River Bottom - St. Mary's River

There are community leaders who want to say the Saint Mary's River is just fine to develop for recreational use and damn the facts! Some people may jump in a boat and take to the river when the water is above normal water level and say how great it is. Others may decide to paddle around part of the river in a canoe and say things are fine. They are wrong and risk the very health of the people of Fort Wayne by encouraging them to use the river.

Let them prove me wrong by hiring an outside testing lab to take samples of the Saint Mary's River at the Ohio line, US 27 north of Decatur, Baer Field Thruway, Foster Park, and at Clinton Street. Six sampling points is all that is needed. To keep the costs low they can have the samples only checked for E-Coli. Forget the heavy metals and other chemicals that may be in the water.

Better yet, if Mayor Richards is the leader he claims to be, he would have the people from the water treatment plant conduct the test. It would require less then a day for a person to run all the samples. I ask them to prove me wrong, shut me up, and knock me off the soapbox!

The results will come back this water is not safe to be in. By EPA standards people should avoid contact with this water. It will not even be a borderline call!

A fellow local blogger took to the Saint Mary's this past Saturday. Mitch Harper, of the Fort Wayne Observed posted both photos and text on his trip. You can check it out by clicking below:

http://indiana.typepad.com/fwob/2007/09/impassable.html#comments

Harper complained about the log jam at the Clinton Street bridge. He wrote about the water flow being impeded by a log jam, that spans the entire width of the river. Then mentioned the smell of the river when they approached the log jam.

The log jam is to be removed in the next few weeks by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT). When they looked at the problem a couple of weeks ago the river was only partially blocked by the log jam. In the mean time more trees have floated into the pile and hung up.

Harper smelled the sewage and the other chemicals in the water. It is more pronounced at the log jam because of the evaporation process. As the water drops, the trees that have soaked up the river water start drying out. The water evaporates and the remaining vapor gases are that of sewage. Yes, it will smell nearly like what one would guess a dead animal smells like as it rots in the open.

I beg the Mayor, or local newspapers, or local TV stations, or anyone else who feel the Saint Mary's River is safe for recreational use is to prove me wrong. Show that you care and want to reassure the public of how safe the river is!

My guess is they will stick their heads in the river bottom!