Posted June 17, 2009 :: The Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie were the two primary features that led Moses Cleaveland to stake land at the mouth of the Cuyahoga in 1796. Along with the low banks, dense forests, and high bluffs, Mr. Cleaveland felt these features presented an ideal location for the capital city of the Western Reserve. And he was right.

The business district of our young city of the early 1800s exploited the river, where steamers, schooners, and canal boats exchanged imports and exports. The steel industry took off, and John D. Rockefeller began his oil empire on the shores of Lake Erie. Prosperity ensued, but polluted waters followed close behind.

After 1856, city leaders began a new public water system to supply unfiltered Lake Erie water to a limited portion of the city. But by 1881, the sewage and filth of a growing population led then Mayor Rensselaer Herrick to declare Cleveland's riverfront "an open sewer through the center of the city." Thus began a series of public works to improve the quality of Cleveland life, including the construction of a public water system and drainage sewers.

A key study of the city's water supply and sewerage systems in 1911 led to the creation of drainage districts that could better manage localized wastewater treatment. Many other sewer improvements took place over the next 50 years, including the construction of new treatment facilities, sewers, and treatment processes.

Despite these improvements, wastewater still lacked adequate treatment to meet the needs of a booming industrial city, and the cumulative effects of neglect reached a new low during the 1960s and early 1970s.

1969 wasn't the only blaze, but led to local and national response

After enduring years of abuse, on June 22, 1969, the Cuyahoga River caught fire and thrust Cleveland into the national spotlight. Ironically, the 1969 fire was benign compared to previous incidents-at least five others since 1912-but timing is everything. The Cuyahoga River's burning in 1969 captured the public's attention and ignited a growing environmental movement. More than a century after the river's pollution was first noted, it had become a national symbol of environmental neglect.

Congress had to do something about the sorry condition of America's water systems. In 1970, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) passed in Congress, helping to establish the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). And two years later, Congress passed the Federal Water Pollution Control Amendments, the basis for what would become the Clean Water Act of 1977.

It was in this national context that the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District was created-but local politics and government also played a formative role in the District's birth.

New environmental attention, local issues lead to creation of new sewer district

The City of Cleveland had been billing customers for sewage treatment since 1938, charging suburban customers more because of the benefits they received thanks to the expanding sewer system, or so reasoned Cleveland at the time.

This led to political confrontation in the 1960s, and-combined with the city's financial difficulties-disputes resulted in a lawsuit filed in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on September 3, 1970. The suburbs and Ohio Water Pollution Control Board (OWPCB) challenged Cleveland's control of the system, charging that the City of Cleveland was inadequately treating wastewater, thereby polluting state waters. Cleveland contended that these problems were caused by the increased sewage flows to its plants resulting from suburban expansion, not city growth. Common Pleas Court Judge George J. McMonagle ordered an injunction in late 1970, and set a hearing for December 1, 1971.

In April of 1972, Judge McMonagle ruled that, to best provide for the wastewater treatment needs of Greater Cleveland, steps should be taken to establish a regional sewer district pursuant to Chapter 6119 of the Ohio Revised Code. McMonagle issued a court order instructing the Cuyahoga County Commissioners (as a representative governmental body in the Greater Cleveland area) to file a petition for the creation of a regional sewer district. On June 15, 1972, the Court declared that the Cleveland Regional Sewer District was organized as a subdivision of the State of Ohio.

[More history of the Regional Sewer District can be found at http://wheredoesitgo.org/40years.]

Anniversary of river fire marked with press conference, partner event

The Sewer District, Cuyahoga River Remedial Action Plan, Cuyahoga County, and the City of Cleveland partnered to present Year of the River: 40 years of progress, a press conference and free music at Settlers Landing in the Flats June 22.

If you can't join us, you can find video and photos of the attendees, musicians, awards, and guest speakers at http://wheredoesitgo.org/40years

For more information about the event, contact Mardele Cohen at the Sewer District (216) 881-6600.