The concept of restoring the nation's waterways to their natural chemical, biological, and physical integrity is a desirable goal, one that will return them to public use by reestablishing a condition fit for swimming and other water sports as well as for the propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife.

Until this has been accomplished, the development of boats with hulls of plastic or other pollution-resistant material has made it possible to use many waterways for boating. In the 1920s and 1930s when industrial pollution was at an all-time high, it was virtually impossible to put a pleasure boat into the water without it dissolving, but today pleasure boats can be seen on many rivers and marinas are springing up along their banks.

In the western United States, particularly in desert regions, there is a different attitude toward rivers from that found among Easterners. Water is such a scarce commodity in the West that vast quantities such as Lake Mead and Lake Powell are euphoric in these very arid areas, and the irrigation waters out of the Snake River, the Gila River, the Salt River, and the Rio Grande give these rivers a special significance in the agricultural development of the region. The All-American Canal that carries water from the Colorado River to the Imperial Valley of California serves a multimillion dollar agriculture enterprise and makes the desert bloom as never before possible. This aspect of rivers and canals is quite different from the view of the river as a means of transportation, for irrigation rights make the difference between successful farming and no farming at all.

The great man-made lakes, notable Powell and Mead, probably serve the same people for recreational facilities as are served by the power generated there, but since the rivers in the east and central United States were developed with the industrial cost-benefit concept paramount, the recreational potential of these areas was largely ignored in favor of a near-exclusive use by industry.

Twenty-four cities in the United States have over one million population and almost all of them are located on rivers. San Antonio has shown the way with river and waterfront development for recreational purposes. In sharp contrast, many cities have turned their backs on the river. St. Louis, the gateway for the westward expansion, has a great arch commemorating its role in history. But as paradoxical as it may seem, this overwhelming fact could not be deduced from the St. Louis waterfront.

The Connecticut River has been relegated to a role of sewage disposal. Most of this beautiful river is undeveloped and should remain so. Where it traverses the many cities from Vermont to Long Island Sound that are in its path, it could provide recreation for millions of urban dwellers and focal points of man-nature interaction—demonstrations of man in harmony with the environment rather than destabilizing the environment as a result of using the river as a sewer. The majestic Hudson is the epitome of river desecration on the North American continent. Recent curtailments of the absolute amount of sewage and industrial effluent, however, have given hope of recovery, and the activities of the sloop Clearwater have dramatized the plight of this great waterway. This magnificent replica of a river sloop from the past has given many school children the opportunity to know the thrill of moving under sail, and it symbolizes what the Hudson and other rivers can and should be: a clean river with clean water; water to drink and swim in; water that supports the life of the river and the birds and reptiles and the furbearing animals along its shores; water that forms the basis for life—all life on earth.

That a river could actually burn as the Cuyahoga did is a manifestation of the influence of technology, industrialization, and the building of cities on the waterways. Industrial man must extend his vision beyond the paramount need for machines and technology that rapaciously consume diminishing resources and must recognize that industry is an ecological flywheel capable of supplying energy and commodities while restoring the environment of the river for the use and pleasure of all people. The rivers are everywhere and so are the people, and no resource would be more easily developed for the enjoyment of urban communities than the rivers in their midst.

—Theodore W. Sudia