Bronx River Provides Blueprint for Urban Waterway Restoration | Huffington Post

Before river restoration efforts began in the late 1990s and early 2000s, cars and other garbage clogged the Bronx River. Photo used with permission from the South Bronx Waterfront Partnership.

From the Huffington Post:

“We sometimes take our waterways for granted. We know that they run through our cities and neighborhoods, but because we don’t all directly rely on them every day for our livelihoods, it is easy to forget about how important they are.

Surely, early New York settler Jonas Bronck appreciated the river that bisected his land when he purchased it in 1639. What became known as Bronck’s (later “the Bronx”) River supplied his family with water for irrigation, fish for food, and beaver for pelts.

Today, the Bronx River is still the only freshwater river in New York City. But somewhere in the 375 years between Jonas Bronck’s settlement and the very recent past, New Yorkers became disconnected from this fantastic natural resource. The river was polluted by industrial waste, urban runoff, and sewage overflow. In some places it began resembling a trash dump. Wildlife all but vanished from its waters and shores.”

via Bronx River Provides Blueprint for Urban Waterway Restoration | John F. Calvelli.

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