The Cuyahoga River and our Great Lake have been made relatively healthy again. Moving forward stewardship is important, but future challenges remain. Let us not forget how we got to where we stand today. The lessons of the past are the key to our future. And not just from an environmental and recreational standpoint.
“Water is our greatest resource,” says John Mitterholzer, senior program officer for the environment at the George Gund Foundation. “It gives us a competitive advantage over a lot of other places. We are so used to seeing it, driving by it and swimming in it, that we don’t realize that we have this kind of resource in our backyard.”
Mitterholzer is also quick to admit that there is work that needs to be done if we are going to maintain and improve our water resources.
“Clearly, plastics are a challenge with any water resource today,’ he says. “An alarming amount of plastics are gong into the Great Lakes.”
According to the Earth Day Network, by 2050 there will be more plastics in our oceans by weight, than fish. Such Malthusian prophecies are hard to quantify. However, it is estimated that 8 million metric tons of plastics go into our oceans every year.
According to a Rochester Institute of Technology Study, 22 million pounds of plastic is dumped into the Great Lakes each year, most of it washing up on our shores. While Lake Michigan receives the most plastics, twice as much as Lake Erie, we do come in a healthy second, dumping 5.5 million pounds of plastic each year.
“If you look at climate science, we are going to have more sever storms.,” Mitterholzer says. “With the aging sewer systems and combined overflow challenges that we have, anything you can do at your home or small business that reduces storm water would be helpful.”
The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) is addressing combined overflow challenges head on, investing $4 billion in our region’s sewer and stormwater infrastructure since its formation in 1972.
“In addition to construction of new infrastructure, we must inspect and maintain our existing infrastructure,” says Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, CEO of the NEORSD.
The Cleveland Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released a report on the state of infrastructure in Northeast Ohio. Unfortunately, our wastewater infrastructure received a D+.
“This report, released just four months before the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Cuyahoga River fire, reminds us that, while we’ve made significant progress, we cannot stop moving forward,” says Dreyfuss-Wells.
Hot Topics
Today, environmental issues have become hot button topics, especially with the current controversial administration in Washington, which often pits business interests against green issues. The reality is that both can exist.
“The environment is a pendulum issue,” says Denis Hayes, president and CEO of the Bullitt Foundation, and a world renowned environmentalist. “The farther one pulls a pendulum in one direction, the farther it is likely to swing in the other direction in future years. We now have the technologies to accomplish a transition to a peaceful, just, sustainable world.”
All politics aside, many major companies and corporations are concerned about the environment. We do have some good corporate citizens here in Northeast Ohio. That is why we shouldn’t blame corporate polluters from 50 years ago. After all, pollution was happening all over the country and the world, not just here.
“But we seized on it,” says Mitterholzer. “We didn’t try to cover it up. Then the Stokes Brothers really brought forward the idea that we can do better. And our local companies, did in fact, do a lot better. I think that is a very important part of the story.”
While companies in the paint and coatings industry were once vilified by environmentalists, one of the leading coatings companies in the world, our own Sherwin-Williams, has set an example of green stewardship that few in the corporate world can match.
“Environmental consciousness is all about respecting the earth we cover with protective coatings,” says Mike Conway, director of corporate communications for the company. “Many of our products are water-based, especially architectural coatings like Harmony, Emerald, Duration, SuperPaint and ProMar 200.”
Sherwin-Williams scientists have developed water-based acrylic alkyd paint made from soybean oil and recycled plastic bottles that cut VOC content by 60 percent. In its last reporting year (2017), Sherwin-Williams recycled 15,000 tons of washwater into its products. Its facilities around the globe are actively recycling washwater today.
“All sites are actively trained in water stewardship and are monitoring their water use and discharge,” adds Conway. “The company reports its water use and recycle programs through the Water Disclosure Project, which is part of the Carbon Disclosure Project.”
If you’re talking about water stewardship and protecting the environment, few companies in our area rival the Great Lakes Brewing Co. And for good reason. If you want to make great beer, you need great water.
“I guess it’s just in my DNA to think in terms of environmental protection,” says Patrick Conway, who founded the Great Lakes Brewing Co. with his brother, Daniel, in 1986. “Water is one of our great resources, so we want to do everything we can to protect it. It is our Yosemite. It is our Grand Canyon. And it’s great to have such a great natural resource at our doorstep.
“And over 90 percent of beer is water, or in the case of light beer, 99 percent.”
While good clean water is essential to its award-winning brews, Great Lakes Brewing Co. has streamlined its operations to conserve our greatest natural resource.
“We’ve reduced the gallons of water needed to make a gallon of beer from 7:1 to 6:1 over the last three years through process improvement,” says Saul Kliorys, sustainability manager at Great Lakes. “We’ve automated and standardized processes and eliminated leaks in the miles of piping we have in the brewery.
“Our employees have participated with their ideas and have shared in the savings through incentive payments. We use close to 30 million gallons of water per year, so it’s taken a lot of improvements to make a difference.”
Patrick and Daniel Conway have been committed to the idea that economic growth and environmental protection aren’t mutually exclusive.
While committed to water protection and conservation, “we’ve also modeled sustainable agriculture, renewable energy and green building in the hope that our consumers will take up these practices as well,” says Kliorys.
However, the brewery’s commitment to the environment goes well above and beyond its internal operations. This year, it will host the 18th Annual Great Lakes Burning River Fest at the old Coast Guard Station on Whiskey Island, moving the date from the end of the summer to something a little more historically significant.
“The fact that we moved the dates to include June 22 is important because it is the 50th anniversary of the most iconic environmental event of the 20th century,” says Pat Conway. “It is the event that spurred on the clean water legislation in the early 70s.”
Through the Great Lakes Burning River Fest, Great Lakes has increased public awareness of the deteriorating yet historic Coast Guard Station, which in turn has resulted in a collaborative cleanup and restoration effort by nonprofit, corporate and government entities. The festival has also raised $400,000 to help restore the Station and put Whiskey Island and Wendy Park on the map as a wonderful green space right in the heart of Cleveland’s industry.
“We’ve raised over $750,000 through the Burning River Fest in support of groups working to protect the Great Lakes,” adds Kliorys. “We helped fund the first studies identifying microplastics in the Great Lakes.”
In 2007, Great Lakes also established the Burning River Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to improving, maintaining and celebrating the vitality of our regional freshwater resources.
Danger on the Horizon
The Cuyahoga River and our Great Lake are now the envy of an increasingly thirsty nation — one with water resources that are over taxed and dwindling.
“There is no doubt that people look at our water resource and think about how they can bring it to their communities,” says Mitterholzer. “We took steps a few years ago that could prove to be very important.”
The Great Lakes Compact, an international agreement between Great Lakes states and the Canadian Provinces of Quebec and Ontario, helps protect our water resource from “those giant straws from Western states like Arizona that might want to come and take our water,” says Mitterholzer.
“The Great Lakes should view the Great Plains warily,” cautions Hayes. “The Oglala Aquifer is mostly fossil water that is not being replenished by rains. Pumping out the Oglala was the principal engine of recovery from the Dust Bowl. Those days are reaching an end.
“At some point, the farmers may well come for your water. “
There is also a chance that we become complacent about protecting our waterways and Great Lake. Without vigilance, oversight and community involvement by the public and community leaders from government, nonprofits and businesses, our greatest natural resource could once again slip into ecological oblivion.
That’s why we must never forget that 50 years ago, our river once caught fire.