Trinity River an Environmental Study

¶ … Trinity River An Environmental Study One of the most applauded changes to come about in the age of environmental awareness is that people actually began appreciating the aesthetic, athletic, and social value of urban and rural waterways. Seldom do we find rivers and streams that are ignored and allowed to run polluted, especially in urban areas.

Cities like Chicago, Baltimore, Cleveland and beach areas like Ocean City, Maryland, Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina; all of these places have invested heavily in their lake fronts and beaches and expend a lot of taxpayer money to keep these water areas clean and attractive because they draw tourists and serve as areas of social recreation for city residents. Unfortunately, not all urban water systems are "up-to-date." The Trinity River system in Dallas, Texas is one such system that tends to be the focus of revitalization.

The river has a long history of pollution and neglect, and today stands as a reminder of our not too distant past when people took for granted natural resources and lived against nature rather than with nature. In 1998 Dallas taxpayers voted on a massive and expensive proposal aimed at, among other things, revitalizing the Trinity River. That proposal succeeded and work commenced to reverse the damage done to not just the Trinity River system, but to Dallas' inner city so that it could be revitalized to accommodate "intown" living.

Looking at a map, the Trinity River has three branches; the East Fork, the Elm Fork, and the West Fork. A smaller stream that runs from the Trinity is Clear Fork. The revitalization program, once begun, would involve a series of levees that would spawn lakes. The idea was that the plan would.". turn this comparatively drab city into a beautiful attraction that will draw millions of dollars in tourism." The cost of the river project was estimated at $246 million.

There were opponents to the plan, and the issues on the opposing side were valid concerns. First, the Trinity River system had been badly polluted, especially during the past century and $246 million to revitalize the system was a conservative if not underestimated figure. Indeed it was, as of 2000, the estimated revitalization of the river in Dallas alone stands at 1.2 billion dollars, including parks, bridges, and a forest preserve.

The history of the Trinity River is one that goes back to the earliest colonial period of Texas, and before that to the period when American Indians referred to the river as Arkikaso. In 1867 the river was called "River of the Canoes," denoting that by that time the river, like most American rivers during the period, had become a highly traveled avenue of access through an unsettled land. In 1690 the river was called Trinity, having been blessed with the name by the Spaniards.

The river is 423 miles long from its point of origin at the points of Elm and West Forks, and it runs through Texas only, which makes it the longest river in Texas. This has to do with its history of pollution too. The 423-mile span of the river rises in "Central Grayson County, flowing south 78 miles through central Collin, western Rockwall, eastern Dallas, and western Kaufman counties, to the southwestern part of Kaufman County, where it joins the West Fork.

The Elm Fork of the Trinity rises in eastern Montague County and flows southeast eighty-five miles, through Cooke and Denton counties, to a confluence with the West Fork, which forms the Trinity River proper a mile west of downtown Dallas in central Dallas County (at 32°48' N, 96°52' W).

The West Fork of the Trinity rises in southern Archer County and flows southeast 180 miles through Jack, Wise, Tarrant, and Dallas counties and along the county line between Ellis and Kaufman counties, to its junction with the East Fork of the Trinity." This means that the polluted state of the river has over the course of its 423 miles numerous county, city and suburban contributors to its past century of pollution, as well as natural and environmental runoff, flooding, and other conditions.

"From the junction of the East and West Forks the Trinity River continues southeast, forming all or part of the county lines between Kaufman and Ellis, Ellis and Henderson, Henderson and Navarro, Freestone and Anderson, Anderson and Leon, Leon and Houston, and Houston and Madison counties. It then cuts across northern Walker County to form a portion of the county line between Walker and Trinity counties and continues as the county line between Trinity and San Jacinto and Polk counties.

At the northern line of Liberty County the Trinity turns almost directly south, cutting across Liberty and Chambers counties, to drain into Trinity Bay just west of Anahuac (at 29°45' N, 94°42' W)." So it is easy to see how complicated any undertaking at revitalization of the river would be. The pollution that plagues the Trinity are not so unlike other rivers across the country that have been successfully revitalized; herbicides, industrial and human waste, and pollutants resulting from land runoff have been ignored during the past century.

A 250-mile stretch of the river that stands as the most impacted by the neglect and pollution is a 250-mile stretch running between Dallas and Fortworth to the headwaters of Lake Livingston. By the early 1960s the river below Dallas for 100 miles was so polluted that the United States Public Health Service described it as "septic." Beginning in the 1960s, various plans have come before the city of Dallas to clean up the river and to revitalize the area.

Having learned from other major urban renewal success stories, Dallas is determined to revitalize the river and to see Dallas become a river community and major tourist attraction. They claim the plan is outdated, and that the flood control - because Dallas has a flooding problem - has been proven to be flawed. Opponents want natural solutions to flood control, over the proposed levee system. They charge that answers concerning water quality and drainage have not been fully addressed.

At present the river can be described as a "big ditch," where murder victims are sometimes dumped, as well as crime weapons. The river does not facility the flow of waters during heavy or torrential downpours, and has actually contributed to the flooding problem of flooding in the city of Dallas. Attempting to address the problem, which was apparently much worse in 1908 when floodwaters wiped out a section of downtown Dallas; in 1920 the city invested in a levee.