They didn't bother cleaning it up for that long because the stench down-river from Brussels went into a flemish area and when they did finally succumb to pressure from the flemish side to cleanup the stench of this river they mismanaged the effort and the project was late and had a minor corruption scandal.
Calling these prejudices "old" is a stretch, it's only in 2016 they saw that fishes could survive in the river.
And there was a dispute a few years ago with one of the companies that cleans the waste water that flows back into the river. They stopped operations and the pollution wiped out the fish all over again.
Are you saying Brussels didn't care because the problem went to a Flemish area? Almost unbelievable to hear about prejudice from a place like Brussels.
In downtown Seoul, the Cheongyecheon stream was vaulted and paved over in the 1970s. People more or less entirely forgot it existed. In the early 2000s a program was put in place to tear up the roadway that sat on top of the stream and turn it into an urban park. The program was unpopular at the beginning because it eliminated valuable roads and cost almost a billion dollars to fix.
Today it's enormously popular, has won numerous global awards for urban redevelopment, and offers a wonderful quiet respite from the grind of the city.
Bonus, they found numerous ancient artifacts during the reclamation and integrated many of them into the system.
"The stream helps to cool down the temperature on the nearby areas by 3.6 °C on average versus other parts of Seoul"
Economy greatly improved, energy requirements decreased, people more happy and healthy and a touristic attraction and nicer city. The project is paying for itself, it seems...
It’s only a small river, but Tokyo also buried the Shibuya river years ago and most residents forgot about it. They recently uncovered it and are still working around the development around it.
Google’s new (from 2019) Tokyo office is beside the river and named Shibuya Stream after the river.
I even saw a K-drama which had some key scenes shot on this river. Ji Chang-wook throws his wedding ring into this river and Kim Ji-won recovers it afterwards.
In Dallas, there's an old joke about the fish in the Trinity River swim backwards so they don't get the water in their eyes.
It always amazes me how there's all of the old black&white film of industrial waste just pouring into whatever water was nearby (river,lakes,etc). However, we know it still happens today, they just get more sneaky about it. Again, in Dallas, a slaughter house was found to be dumping blood and waste into the river by a drone flying over head and the color of the water had an obvious color change to it.
They are also a lot more likely to treat it so it is safe to put in. Not large company wants to be caught polluting the river, the EPA fines add up and are slowly getting worse.
It's worth it. Montreal and it's surrounding cities neglected the river and canals, which supported local industry and transport, then used to dump toxic soils from digging the subway, or dumping untreated sewer water. After much cleanup, there are many spots where we can swim, kayak or even surf. It has completely changed some neighborhoods (Verdun, Saint-Henri, but also going from Bellerive to Boucherville islands).
I flew into Fukuoka once and out of the window could see beautiful beaches in sheltered shallow bays completely empty. No one on the beach, no one sailing or swimming. Asked my hosts about it and they said no one goes in the water because it's polluted. That's was a damn shame.
In Boston, similar emotions pertain to the Charles River, which runs through it majestically. It’s currently swimmable on many days after decades of cleanup, but finding a Bostonian who would be comfortable taking a dip wouldn’t be easy. Same situation with the Boston Harbor
I grew up in Boston and actually did some sailing on the river as a kid - we coasted around in Sunfishes for the most part. Unlike literally every other sailing instruction course I ever took there was no forced capsizing tutorial to learn how to uncapisize a Sunfish - mostly because nobody's parents would ever sign onto a waiver that said "Oh btw, we're going to briefly dunk your kid into the Charles".
I love the Charles River and spent a lot of time growing up around it in Cambridge and city-side on the Esplanade. I've got great memories from both Pops and pop concerts in the Hatch Shell - but yea, no where in those memories is anything about voluntarily going into the river - avoiding even dipping a toe into that was ingrained into us at a young age.
I didn't grow up in Boston but spent a lot of time sailing (and accordingly, a decent amount swimming) in the Charles River Basin in the past several years (go Tech Sailing!). Only once ever had a bad experience - got terribly sick for 24 hrs after a windy windsurfing day where I was in the water more than I was on the board. I was told this was "river fever" and it happens from time to time! Otherwise a great body of water.
The days the Charles is unswimmable is a few hot summer days after rainstorms (and in the winters when it freezes up!). In the summer the water is warm enough and the runoff after storms brings in enough nutrients from the city that cyanobacteria grow like crazy and create a paralysis risk. On these days the Boston DCR does a pretty good job making sure everyone knows to stay dry for the day.
London has many "vanished" rivers, the most famous of which is the Fleet.
In earlier times it was nice enough that a royal palace was built on its banks, but by the Restoration it had become what Neal Stephenson's _Baroque Cycle_ described as a "river of shit" (the palace had been converted into a prison by then, too).
I grew up in the Boston area in the 60s, before the Charles River was dammed to prevent Boston Harbor tides from flushing into the Charles Basin. Driving along Storrow Drive at low tide in summer was a malodorous experience.
Then in the 80s, long after the dam was put in, they had enormous air bubblers in the Charles Basin to stir up the stagnant bottom water. Fun to sail through.
In a way Copenhagen has done a similar thing. The harbour used to be a terrible mess in 1995 with sewage and whatnot going in but these days the water is so clean that swimming in the harbour became a thing. Last year the Diesel harbour busses were replaced by electric ships and the seafront is a place where tons of locals hang out and enjoy the city in summer.
Maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to uncover Ladegårds Å and get rid of the terrible concrete street mess that is Åboulevard.
The south fork of the Chicago river was called bubbly creek. Because cow carcasses dumped there by the slaughter houses caused bubble to form — 50 years later!
I live next to the river, it's open here. But honestly it's just brown water and I have never seen a fish in there for 20 years. I still see pipes coming from houses into that river, so I wouldn't be surprised if some households their toilet water still flushes to it :P
Other parts of the river they are discussing in the article are all right next to the canal and in either entirely build up or industrial areas.
The "dead" part of the river they are talking about is the one running under Brussels. Ther's always been an water cleaning station downstreem of Brussels so that Flanders didn't really get all the shit from Brussels.
Wow. Just wow. That any money would be spent on something like this in a city like that.
Brussels is the saddest, most dilapidated, neglected western European capital I’ve ever been to and I’ve been to many.
I mean it’s so filthy, so filthy that bud drivers refused to park their buses at one of the biggest train stations in the city because of the amount of human excrement from the homeless population.
Sure, dig up a river famous for being an open sewer… boggles the mind.
[+] [-] cynusx|4 years ago|reply
Calling these prejudices "old" is a stretch, it's only in 2016 they saw that fishes could survive in the river.
[+] [-] yvdriess|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chrisseaton|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Angostura|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bane|4 years ago|reply
Today it's enormously popular, has won numerous global awards for urban redevelopment, and offers a wonderful quiet respite from the grind of the city.
Bonus, they found numerous ancient artifacts during the reclamation and integrated many of them into the system.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheonggyecheon
[+] [-] pvaldes|4 years ago|reply
Economy greatly improved, energy requirements decreased, people more happy and healthy and a touristic attraction and nicer city. The project is paying for itself, it seems...
[+] [-] aikinai|4 years ago|reply
Google’s new (from 2019) Tokyo office is beside the river and named Shibuya Stream after the river.
It still smells pretty bad though :/
[+] [-] spockz|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] petre|4 years ago|reply
https://youtu.be/n8-VZcycUCA
[+] [-] scythe|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dylan604|4 years ago|reply
It always amazes me how there's all of the old black&white film of industrial waste just pouring into whatever water was nearby (river,lakes,etc). However, we know it still happens today, they just get more sneaky about it. Again, in Dallas, a slaughter house was found to be dumping blood and waste into the river by a drone flying over head and the color of the water had an obvious color change to it.
[+] [-] dendrite9|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bluGill|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mgbmtl|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Gibbon1|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] f_allwein|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] morsch|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shortsightedsid|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] marstall|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] contravariant|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] munk-a|4 years ago|reply
I love the Charles River and spent a lot of time growing up around it in Cambridge and city-side on the Esplanade. I've got great memories from both Pops and pop concerts in the Hatch Shell - but yea, no where in those memories is anything about voluntarily going into the river - avoiding even dipping a toe into that was ingrained into us at a young age.
[+] [-] thatcherc|4 years ago|reply
The days the Charles is unswimmable is a few hot summer days after rainstorms (and in the winters when it freezes up!). In the summer the water is warm enough and the runoff after storms brings in enough nutrients from the city that cyanobacteria grow like crazy and create a paralysis risk. On these days the Boston DCR does a pretty good job making sure everyone knows to stay dry for the day.
[+] [-] Turing_Machine|4 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62XRy-jFCm8
London has many "vanished" rivers, the most famous of which is the Fleet.
In earlier times it was nice enough that a royal palace was built on its banks, but by the Restoration it had become what Neal Stephenson's _Baroque Cycle_ described as a "river of shit" (the palace had been converted into a prison by then, too).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Fleet
[+] [-] dtgriscom|4 years ago|reply
Then in the 80s, long after the dam was put in, they had enormous air bubblers in the Charles Basin to stir up the stagnant bottom water. Fun to sail through.
[+] [-] whymauri|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] teclordphrack2|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] gus_massa|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] f_allwein|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] LeonidasXIV|4 years ago|reply
Maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to uncover Ladegårds Å and get rid of the terrible concrete street mess that is Åboulevard.
[+] [-] alamortsubite|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wombatpm|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 99112000|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thepangolino|4 years ago|reply
Other parts of the river they are discussing in the article are all right next to the canal and in either entirely build up or industrial areas.
The "dead" part of the river they are talking about is the one running under Brussels. Ther's always been an water cleaning station downstreem of Brussels so that Flanders didn't really get all the shit from Brussels.
[+] [-] holografix|4 years ago|reply
Brussels is the saddest, most dilapidated, neglected western European capital I’ve ever been to and I’ve been to many.
I mean it’s so filthy, so filthy that bud drivers refused to park their buses at one of the biggest train stations in the city because of the amount of human excrement from the homeless population.
Sure, dig up a river famous for being an open sewer… boggles the mind.
[+] [-] zeristor|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zeristor|4 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Fleet
Looks lovely from the old paintings, there’s supposed to be barge moorings in what is now the sewer.
The Thames overflow comes out under Blackfriars bridge, however the the Thames Tideway tunnel is being built to reduce overflow events:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Tideway_Scheme
So there’s the Crossrail tunnel, Thames Tideway tunnel, and the recently completed National Grid tunnel to carry extra electricity through London.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Power_Tunnels