A look at the impact of pollution on rivers and efforts to keep them clean
The World
Updated on
The Olympic triathlon kicked off with a splash into the River Seine.
A lot went into that moment, and it was a big win for the organizers in Paris. Cleaning up the river ahead of the Summer Olympic Games cost $1.5 billion and was a big gamble.
Elevated bacteria levels in the Seine postponed the men’s triathlon.
Some people have been watching and hoping that the success of this high profile cleanup of the Seine will spur a global trend to restore other urban waterways.
“Swimming in a river just feels like you’re swimming in the whole lifeblood of an ecosystem,” said naturalist and author Sy Montgomery who has swum in rivers all around the globe. Her most recent book is, “Secrets of the Octopus.”
“The Seine just gave birth to Paris, and it’s the magic of the city,” Montgomery said. “When you’re swimming in a river, you’re in a living place. You’re being upheld in the arms of an
entire ecosystem. You’re swimming in life.”
The World’s host, Carolyn Beeler, spoke to Montgomery about these ecosystems.
Carolyn Beeler: For so long, humans used waterways as basically pollution dumping grounds from trash to fertilizer runoff to sewage runoff, which is the problem in so many urban waterways.
Rivers and other waterways have started to be cleaned up in many places, like in Paris. Do you know, are urban rivers generally getting cleaner, globally, or are they still getting dirtier and dirtier due to everything that is running into them?
Rivers and other waterways have started to be cleaned up in many places, like in Paris. Do you know, are urban rivers generally getting cleaner, globally, or are they still getting dirtier and dirtier due to everything that is running into them?
Sy Montgomery: Well, the ones that have been the objects of cleanups have had some really exciting changes. The Thames, for example, legislation from Europe removed pesticides from the water, which is really important.
Now, everyone takes digital photographs. The Thames was terribly polluted with silver from conventional photography, so all kinds of great critters have come back to the Thames and its estuaries. But, all the problems are not solved, even in the rivers that have benefited from these big cleanup efforts.
One of the things I read with horror was they were trying to restore shellfish to the estuaries of the Thames, which is great because they clean the water. But these poor mollusks, they were moving them from one place to these estuaries, and there
was so much pollution from the urine of women who were on birth control pills. And these hormones were actually causing these mollusks, no matter what sex they actually were, to grow penises.
Now, everyone takes digital photographs. The Thames was terribly polluted with silver from conventional photography, so all kinds of great critters have come back to the Thames and its estuaries. But, all the problems are not solved, even in the rivers that have benefited from these big cleanup efforts.
One of the things I read with horror was they were trying to restore shellfish to the estuaries of the Thames, which is great because they clean the water. But these poor mollusks, they were moving them from one place to these estuaries, and there
was so much pollution from the urine of women who were on birth control pills. And these hormones were actually causing these mollusks, no matter what sex they actually were, to grow penises.
It just shows the impact of humans on these ecosystems. So, you have not swum in the Seine through Paris because, of course, previously it wasn’t clean enough to
do so. But you have swum in a lot of other places.
Can you tell me about maybe one of your most-memorable river swims?
do so. But you have swum in a lot of other places.
Can you tell me about maybe one of your most-memorable river swims?
There are dolphins, which we think of as marine mammals, that live in rivers,
and some of them are gray, but some of them actually are pink as bubble gum. So, I was
researching a book on these elusive dolphins who don’t jump out of the water like
our marine ones.
I swam in lots of rivers looking for these dolphins. Some of the rivers were black as night, and it was very difficult to see them. But, on one of my last journeys to Brazil, I would swim out about a quarter mile into the Tapajós River in this very remote area.
This was not a swim-with-dolphins program. This was like you hire some boatman in
a little town, and he takes you to this remote place and you swim out into this river. And seven dolphins would come every day and swim with me. And I didn’t even possess a
mask and snorkel at that time. So, I was just opening my eyes underwater, then pulling my
head out of the water.
And sometimes, they would pull their heads out of the water, and they would look at me sideways and they would dive beneath me and they would do this amazing thing I didn’t understand at first. I would feel these bubbles sizzling up on my skin, and they were letting loose these bubbles from either their mouths or their blowholes. I later found out that in captivity, they’re known to do this to each other, and they do it as if to give you a massage.
But that’s the experience of swimming in a river. Even if you don’t see who else is there, you feel their presence. Some countries are even granting rivers personhood. The Ganges River [in India], which drains into an area called the Sundarbans on the Bay of Bengal, and I have swum there, is believed by some to be a living goddess.
and some of them are gray, but some of them actually are pink as bubble gum. So, I was
researching a book on these elusive dolphins who don’t jump out of the water like
our marine ones.
I swam in lots of rivers looking for these dolphins. Some of the rivers were black as night, and it was very difficult to see them. But, on one of my last journeys to Brazil, I would swim out about a quarter mile into the Tapajós River in this very remote area.
This was not a swim-with-dolphins program. This was like you hire some boatman in
a little town, and he takes you to this remote place and you swim out into this river. And seven dolphins would come every day and swim with me. And I didn’t even possess a
mask and snorkel at that time. So, I was just opening my eyes underwater, then pulling my
head out of the water.
And sometimes, they would pull their heads out of the water, and they would look at me sideways and they would dive beneath me and they would do this amazing thing I didn’t understand at first. I would feel these bubbles sizzling up on my skin, and they were letting loose these bubbles from either their mouths or their blowholes. I later found out that in captivity, they’re known to do this to each other, and they do it as if to give you a massage.
But that’s the experience of swimming in a river. Even if you don’t see who else is there, you feel their presence. Some countries are even granting rivers personhood. The Ganges River [in India], which drains into an area called the Sundarbans on the Bay of Bengal, and I have swum there, is believed by some to be a living goddess.
What would change if humans in big urban centers had more access to healthy
rivers?
rivers?
Well, our health would certainly improve. And I think it would connect us more to what truly gives us joy. I mean, we are a hunter-gatherer species, and we’re meant to be in the real world, the green world, the breathing world, the blue world.
Right now, we’re just shopper-gatherers. I think this is why so many of us are unhappy, are dissatisfied, and we don’t even know what we long for. But that’s where our real joy and awe and connection comes from.
Right now, we’re just shopper-gatherers. I think this is why so many of us are unhappy, are dissatisfied, and we don’t even know what we long for. But that’s where our real joy and awe and connection comes from.
In the rivers that you’ve swum in and you’ve studied, what are the major
sources of pollution that then end up putting those in bad shape?
sources of pollution that then end up putting those in bad shape?
Well, one of the big problems in the Amazon is gold mining. When I found out how toxic the fish I had been eating for weeks in the Tapajós was, I was alarmed, not for myself, but for all of my friends that I had just made who live there and eat that fish every single day.
But right now, the big problem is what we think of as typical pollution, chemical pollution and runoff from farmland and people’s lawns and parking lots and stuff like that.
But right now, the big problem is what we think of as typical pollution, chemical pollution and runoff from farmland and people’s lawns and parking lots and stuff like that.
So, we’re speaking today because the Olympics has caused this impetus for Paris to clean up the Seine. I’m wondering what other kinds of circumstances or tipping
points have caused other authorities to turn dirty rivers into clean ones?
points have caused other authorities to turn dirty rivers into clean ones?
The Thames is a great example of a river that was hideously polluted. Its estuary was emptied, and now eels and otters and marine mammals have returned to the estuaries.
Some of this is because of legislation from all of Europe to remove pesticides from the water — and the rivers don’t just observe the boundaries of nations. We’ve had this experience in the United States, too, working with Canada to clean up our rivers. And when we work together, that’s when we can fix our mutual problems.
Some of this is because of legislation from all of Europe to remove pesticides from the water — and the rivers don’t just observe the boundaries of nations. We’ve had this experience in the United States, too, working with Canada to clean up our rivers. And when we work together, that’s when we can fix our mutual problems.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
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