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Well I headed out this sunday morning to see what life might be swimming around the Coquitlam River, and what I had come across was shocking. I started my trip from downtown Poco and headed downstream. It was no more than 2 minutes before I came across my first suprise, a 20 lb SHOPPING CART. Now while I am not astranged to seeing this in the Coquitlam I was suprised seeing as how the cleanup was only 1 month ago.
As I continued my journey downstream in hopes of seeing some life under the water things went from bad to worse. Another cart, then a tire and then another cart again. Not to mention the affect that the urbanization in the surrounding areas and the gravel pit way upstream. Instead of walking on rocks you know get to walk on mud. You can actually take the exact same route back up the river as it is obvious were you walked down due to the amount of silt on the river bed.
I ended up about 2 km below the red bridge (or bailey rbidge as some know it by) and it just got worse. The river has a very orange hue to it from the sediment and rust running downstream, the amount of garbage I cam across would be enough to fill a dump truck, and the damn rubbie campsites are even worse. I came across 3 rubbie sites that are in short...DISGUSTING! In a final tally I counted more than 60 tires in the river and on the banks and approximately 20 shopping carts in the river. The carts couldn't be moved as most were buried under the rock with only a portion showing. I tried removing one but it is impossible without a shovel by your side.
As I was on my return trip I had a while to think about this river and what can we, as a group, can do about it. The only resident life I came across was one crayfish and one frog. No trout, or fish of any kind was seen and the river was quite low and clear. Dirty but clear none the less. Have we killed this river? We can lay blame on the gravel pit or the summer users leaving behind thier garbage or even the rubbies putting shopping carts in the river, BUT, it might be that it is a realization of what an urban development can do to a river. Is there a way we can prevent this? More people moving here means more construction which means more pollution. How are we supposed to fight something like that?
The upper river has a hatchery program in place and even though it is small the workers do a great job in trying to bring life back into this river. Is it a redundant cycle? Are the fish that they put back into the system able to spawn when they return? With the amount of silt running down the river covering all the eggs, how will this work.
I guess you can say I am a little concerned about this situation. I grew up on this river and from what I saw today I can bet that there will be nothing left in it by the time I have kids. There needs to be something drastically done about this once beautiful, plentiful river before it becomes completely sterile. In my eyes the Coquitlam River has turned into nothing more than a garbage ditch.
How long is left in this rivers life? Are we to stand by idly and watch it die? Because right now it does not have many years left before what was once a great river will be nothing more than a garbage dump. Maybe we can put together a petition regarding the gravel pit? Not one to close it down because as I mentioned above that will not happen, but instead one to put hard restrictions on the way they handle thier runoff. If the CEWE's had some pressure from the neighboring cities, Poco and Coquitlam, maybe we could see some money from them. I would like to see CEWE's put in some money on a river cleanup and some better filtration facilities. How have they been able to get away with this without any dire consequences?
We need to make a stand to help save our rivers, because if we don't our kids will not get to enjoy the same beautiful sorroundings and fishing opportunities we have so close to home.
As I continued my journey downstream in hopes of seeing some life under the water things went from bad to worse. Another cart, then a tire and then another cart again. Not to mention the affect that the urbanization in the surrounding areas and the gravel pit way upstream. Instead of walking on rocks you know get to walk on mud. You can actually take the exact same route back up the river as it is obvious were you walked down due to the amount of silt on the river bed.
I ended up about 2 km below the red bridge (or bailey rbidge as some know it by) and it just got worse. The river has a very orange hue to it from the sediment and rust running downstream, the amount of garbage I cam across would be enough to fill a dump truck, and the damn rubbie campsites are even worse. I came across 3 rubbie sites that are in short...DISGUSTING! In a final tally I counted more than 60 tires in the river and on the banks and approximately 20 shopping carts in the river. The carts couldn't be moved as most were buried under the rock with only a portion showing. I tried removing one but it is impossible without a shovel by your side.
As I was on my return trip I had a while to think about this river and what can we, as a group, can do about it. The only resident life I came across was one crayfish and one frog. No trout, or fish of any kind was seen and the river was quite low and clear. Dirty but clear none the less. Have we killed this river? We can lay blame on the gravel pit or the summer users leaving behind thier garbage or even the rubbies putting shopping carts in the river, BUT, it might be that it is a realization of what an urban development can do to a river. Is there a way we can prevent this? More people moving here means more construction which means more pollution. How are we supposed to fight something like that?
The upper river has a hatchery program in place and even though it is small the workers do a great job in trying to bring life back into this river. Is it a redundant cycle? Are the fish that they put back into the system able to spawn when they return? With the amount of silt running down the river covering all the eggs, how will this work.
I guess you can say I am a little concerned about this situation. I grew up on this river and from what I saw today I can bet that there will be nothing left in it by the time I have kids. There needs to be something drastically done about this once beautiful, plentiful river before it becomes completely sterile. In my eyes the Coquitlam River has turned into nothing more than a garbage ditch.
How long is left in this rivers life? Are we to stand by idly and watch it die? Because right now it does not have many years left before what was once a great river will be nothing more than a garbage dump. Maybe we can put together a petition regarding the gravel pit? Not one to close it down because as I mentioned above that will not happen, but instead one to put hard restrictions on the way they handle thier runoff. If the CEWE's had some pressure from the neighboring cities, Poco and Coquitlam, maybe we could see some money from them. I would like to see CEWE's put in some money on a river cleanup and some better filtration facilities. How have they been able to get away with this without any dire consequences?
We need to make a stand to help save our rivers, because if we don't our kids will not get to enjoy the same beautiful sorroundings and fishing opportunities we have so close to home.