February 23, 2001 Finally, planning looks at river's good By STAN HADDEN_ Guest Commentary Editor's note: A Feb. 16 letter, "Weber River too polluted for a parkway" expressed the writer's concern about poor planning in areas near the river, prompted these two responses. Yes, there are problems with the quality of the rivers. In the past and still now in some cases, the mentality of many has been "It's not any good, go throw it in the river." This is still the thinking of many. We still have planning commissions that do not consider the outcome of industrial parks, junkyards, car lots, golf courses, feed lots and many other facilities placed adjacent to the rivers. The answer, of course, is education and participation by people who are concerned, like this writer and others interested in the environment, enough to become active in planning commissions or at least attend the meetings where items of interest are to be discussed. There are steps now being taken to rectify some of the problems associated with our rivers. The Clear Water Act has become law, and with it all of the communities along the Wasatch Front must now formulate plans to minimize harmful materials within storm sewer discharge, construction runoff, etc., from entering the river systems. This is called Phase II of the Environmental Protection Agency's published requirements. The final rules can be found at the EPA's Web site: www.epa.gov/owm/sw/phase2. This act alone will do much to improve the river quality because it is a mandatory requirement. The writer's other areas of concern, "Ford riprap," will take a little longer. The mentality that has been formed over the years is one of "channelizing" the river. Guess what? It doesn't work. The Army Corps of Engineers has finally come to this same conclusion. When the river is constricted, all Hadden that happens is the water increases in velocity causing bottom scouring, bank erosion, dike collapse and flooding. As has been apparent by the flooding pictures every spring when dikes are constructed to contain the river, immediately people assume that it is safe to build in what was the flood plain. Eventually the dikes fail and we see pictures of houses floating by. The answer is to maintain the open space on the sides of the rivers - this is called the flood plain for a good reason. The plant growth in these areas is called riparian growth. When Standard-Examiner file photo Debris spoils the Weber River near Fort Buenaventura State Park in late October. flooding occurs, these trees and shrubs naturally slow the flow removing the destructive energy. The soil in this area absorbs a lot of water to give it back later. If diking is essential, place it to protect structures, not to constrict the river. The best use for this riparian/flood plain area is definitely a parkway. It resolves many problems as you can see, and provides the "open space" so necessary for people. Ogden, Riverdale, Marriott/Slaterville and others are actively pursuing this concept and should be congratulated on their efforts. The more people use these areas, the more there will be the demand for better planning, open space, flood plain and riparian retention. Many concepts now accepted will no longer be tolerated when the importance of these areas and the rivers is fully realized. As you can see, these objectives will not happen overnight. There are a lot of costs and effort still to come. In the meantime, however, there are organizations doing a lot of good in river cleanup, like the "Adopt a Waterbody" program I monitored for Weber County. Twice a year volunteers like the Ogden Canyon Club members scour the canyon river banks and collect a huge amount of junk left by unthinking individuals throughout the year. So please don't despair, things are happening, slower than I would like, but nevertheless happening. Maybe someday our ancestors will look back on us and won't be able to understand why it took so long. But regardless, today would be a good day to start. Stan Hadden of Riverdale has served as the Weber County River Keeper for the past five years. 45