”Fifty years ago, Congress voted to
override President Richard Nixon’s veto of the Clean Water Act. It has
proved to be one of the most transformative environmental laws ever
enacted.
At the time of the law’s passage, hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage
was dumped by New York City into the Hudson River every day. This filth
was compounded by industrial contaminants emptied into the river along
much of its length. The catch basin for all of this was New York Harbor,
which resembled an open sewer. At its worst, 10 feet of raw human waste
blanketed portions of the harbor bottom, and certain reaches held
little or no oxygen to sustain the life of its fishery. Trash floated
among oil slicks.
Health advisories
against eating fish from the Hudson remain, but its ecology has largely
recovered, thanks to the law, which imposed strict regulations on what
could be discharged into the water by sewage treatment plants, factories
and other sources of pollution. Today people swim in organized events
in New York Harbor, which would have been unthinkable in 1972 when the
law was passed. Across the country, billions of dollars were also spent
to construct and improve sewage treatment plants, leading to recoveries
of other urban waterways.
Cleaner
water has made the harbor far more hospitable, and other steps have
helped to rebuild life there, like fishing restrictions and the removal
of some dams on tributaries in the Hudson River watershed.
The
harbor’s environment remains compromised even so. It continues to be
stressed by sewage overflow during rainstorms and by habitat
degradation, such as loss of salt marshes from development and sea level
rise. But the ecological workings of the harbor have been returned to a
functional level, a revitalization that owes much to this landmark act
of Congress.
Fifty years on, the story of this remarkable recovery can be told through some of its key animal species.
American oyster
Oyster reefs once covered roughly 350 square miles of harbor bottom
around New York City. Untreated sewage contributed to a severe decline
in the oyster population that lasted through the 20th century. The wild
oyster population has begun to recover; a nine-incher known as Big was
found in 2018 by a diver at a Hudson River pier. The nonprofit Billion Oyster Project is also at work restoring oyster reefs in the harbor, which provide habitat for other species…
Bald eagle
Once a rarity across North America, largely because the now-banned
pesticide DDT compromised its ability to reproduce by weakening its
eggshells, the bald eagle has made a strong comeback,
taking advantage of the harbor’s resurgent fish life. As many as 10 now
live on Staten Island, including the borough’s first nesting pair,
known as Vito and Linda.
Humpback whale
The increased abundance of menhaden, a critical food source for the whales, has likely drawn humpbacks into the Hudson estuary. In December 2020 a humpback whale was seen in the Hudson just one mile from Times Square.
Harbor heron
Herons, egrets and ibis once nested all over New York Harbor. But demand for their plumage
for women’s hats in the late 19th century, followed by the decimation
by sewage pollution of the fish and crabs they preyed on, contributed to
almost a century-long absence. Improved water quality has led to the
birds’ recovery, with more than a thousand breeding pairs.
Osprey
Like the bald eagle, osprey numbers plummeted because of the widespread use of DDT. Today this bird of prey,
also known as a fish hawk, is often spotted over the harbor hunting
fish close to the surface, which they snatch with their outstretched
talons. The cleaner harbor’s revitalized fish populations have helped
drive the osprey’s return.”
Prometheus is the titan god of forethought, is something of a trickster in Greek mythology, and is best known for his role in stealing fire and giving it to humanity, only to be punished severely by Zeus, the king of the gods. Despite being often called a titan, Prometheus is actually the son of two titans Iapetus and Clymene or Themis in some versions, and his brothers are Atlas the god of endurance, Menoetius the god of violent rage, and Epimetheus, the god of afterthought.
Prometheus stole fire from Olympus, hidden away in a hollow fennel stalk, and brought it down to earth, which allowed humanity to cook meat and keep warm as well as develop the crafts of metallurgy and ceramics, among others. In retaliation for giving humans fire, Zeus not only had the first woman, Pandora, crafted as something harmful to all of humanity, but he also punished Prometheus directly. Zeus bound the titan in chains to a cliff and set a long-winged eagle upon him to eat his liver every day. But, as Prometheus was immortal, his liver grew back each night for his torture to begin again the following day.
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