Garrison Hilliard wrote:

Scenic river 'endangered'
Group: Little Miami's future at risk

By Dan Klepal
Enquirer staff writer

One of Ohio's cleanest and most beautiful rivers is also one of the nation's
most endangered waterways, according to the environmental organization American
Rivers...


Thanks for the heads-up. Paddlers, by their activity, are in a
position to keep watch on the quality of rivers.

I paddle on the North Fork of the Shenandoah River in Virginia.
Development in the watershed is at an alarming rate. 900 new,
single-family residential units have been approved for construction in
Woodstock, VA. Sewage treatment for the area is already operating
beyond capacity, resulting in releases of raw sewage into the river.
Large fish kills have been reported on the river as recent as spring,
2004.

The North Fork feeds the Potomac River. The Potomac is currently
experiencing long-existing and unresolved ecological problems.
Mercury, released into the South Fork of the Shenandoah River from
industry in Waynesboro, VA. has been tracked downstream from
Washington, D.C. A super fund site in Front Royal, VA. is the source
of PCBs in the South Fork. Both mercury and PCBs are found in fish
tissues in amounts that have caused the state of Virginia to issue
consumption advisories, and outright bans on consumption. The cause of
inter-sex fish (male fish having ovaries and eggs) is being
investigated in the upper-Potomac tributaries, in West Virginia.





--
"This president has destroyed the country, the economy,
the relationship with the rest of the world.
He's a monster in the White House. He should resign."

- Hunter S. Thompson, speaking to an antiwar audience in 2003.