| Indeed! When I see Mike Keyes catching muskies from the Wis. River near where I grew up and folks fishing for walleyes it practically brings tears to my eyes. Growing up in the late 50 and the 60s in Wis Rapids, a block away from the Wis. River, I remember what it was like back then. When Sen. Nelson, the founder of Earth Day, and others started pushing legislation that eventually became the basis of clean water law, I remember the push back in the early 1970s. Businesses and cities, who used the river as an open sewer, claimed the Wisconsin should be declared an "industrial river". Businesses like paper mills are often cited for the pollution they caused, but cities were just as responsible. Rapids dumped tons of only partially treated sewage into the river all day long. One of the outlets in a park was where we fished for bull heads and carp. Lots of other communities did the same. It was cheap.
I am sure there are still pollutants in the river, the so called "forever chemicals" but it is so much better. Today, not many remember how it was and that can be a problem. Don't let that kind of thing happen again. It will if people get lazy and complacent. |
Posts: 341
Location: Western U.P. | North of 8 - 4/22/2021 7:31 AM
Indeed! When I see Mike Keyes catching muskies from the Wis. River near where I grew up and folks fishing for walleyes it practically brings tears to my eyes. Growing up in the late 50 and the 60s in Wis Rapids, a block away from the Wis. River, I remember what it was like back then. When Sen. Nelson, the founder of Earth Day, and others started pushing legislation that eventually became the basis of clean water law, I remember the push back in the early 1970s. Businesses and cities, who used the river as an open sewer, claimed the Wisconsin should be declared an "industrial river". Businesses like paper mills are often cited for the pollution they caused, but cities were just as responsible. Rapids dumped tons of only partially treated sewage into the river all day long. One of the outlets in a park was where we fished for bull heads and carp. Lots of other communities did the same. It was cheap.
I am sure there are still pollutants in the river, the so called "forever chemicals" but it is so much better. Today, not many remember how it was and that can be a problem. Don't let that kind of thing happen again. It will if people get lazy and complacent.
Well said. |
