Intern Research – Design Solutions for Cleaning our Waterways

There are multiple ways that waterways get polluted, and some of their effects are more noticeable than others.

Erosion – caused by lack of protection on rivers edge and causes the water to be murky and brown.

Farmland Runoff – water contaminated with farmland minerals (such as fertilizer minerals) or animal waste leaks into river and streams. This can cause algae blooms which kill aquatic life due to lack of oxygen.

Industrial Runoff – waste created by industrial facility that is dumped into rivers.

Stormwater Runoff – water that is not able to seep into the land due to hardscape covering a large portion of cities, sometimes can cause sewage to overflow into rivers when too much rainwater overwhelms the existing sewage infrastructure.

Image Source: Visit Fort Wayne

A great way to balance man-made filtration methods with nature filtration methods can be found in wetland parks.

These parks use the flow of water to their advantage, moving water through plants, sunlight, and man-made filtration devices. The treatment could include gross pollutant traps, bio-retention systems, vegetated swales, and aeration devices. Water recycled for irrigation is further treated by filtration and UV disinfection. Some benefits of wetland parks include helping the local wildlife by proving food and shelter, teaching people the process of water purification which can be used to showcase the problems with the water found in our rivers, and make locations more aesthetic by adding nature to urban areas.

To maintain clean, healthy rivers, it would be best if there were wetland parks and water treatment plants at multiple locations throughout all of the rivers. Any farm, road, or place along the river’s edge could be polluting the river. In the spirit of keeping things simple and realistic, the most efficient location for a wetland park in Fort Wayne would be where the St. Mary’s and St. Joseph Rivers meet to create the Maumee River. The water treatment plant is not far from this location and this spot would have the most amount of pollution since two rivers meet here. The proximity to downtown, makes this location great as it would attract people to visit the park. The more people begin to understand what is happening in our water, the greater possibility there is for the change of laws and regulations.