How transforming river banks can clean contaminated waterways

Rivers throughout the eastern United States are well-known for their high banks and steep, winding courses. But in 2008 scientists proposed that years of damming rivers had transformed them from marshy streams good at filtering waste, to the pollution chutes they can often be today. In 2011, they removed 22,000 tons of sediment from the banks of a small Pennsylvania stream; its success has since spurred over a dozen similar restoration projects. Watch to learn how researchers forged a new path for shaping rivers by challenging a long-held assumption about river banks in the eastern United States.

[dgsantafedave]

In Red Bluff, Ca the Yucca Tribe of Siskiyou have almost completed a project similar to the one mention last in the video. They restored a creek that will provide the small salmon a place of refuge from predators as they work their way down the Sacramento River. It is almost done and I am interested to see the results in the coming years.

[enterthecarp]

My dream is to buy a piece of tired land and enhance it or rejuvenate it

[bretthess]

Yep. I've been saying this for 50 years. As well, back in 1970 my great-uncle, a corn and dairy farmer, showed me the soils on either side of the fence line of his farm.
His soil, fertilized by manure, was black and good. His neighbor's soil, artificially fertilized for many years, was leached out to red clay.
In addition, my uncle used almost no pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides, because neighboring farms overused them so much, that he didn't need them.
No farms, no food.

[micah_lee]

Each stream is different and therefore requires different restoration efforts. Many times, simply remeandering the river and giving the stream a floodplain and other signature habitat can restore the ecosystem and fix all of the problems previously encountered. Not all streams are marshes. Trees colonize.

[footfault]

With profound implications, footage impresses us all. Those scientists are doing a great job worth attention. An excellent pick!

[Sblatus]

It’s great to see these kind of projects actually happening (not here in México). And the result it’s pretty nice and pleasing.

[FlyTyer]

If removing layers of legacy sediment helps streams & downstream areas, wouldn’t the removed sediment be valuable to be sold to spread on farm land & to spread on areas that have been eroded? Perhaps the sale would help fund more restoration.

[xaiano]

It's really impressive to see how effective this short section is at preventing floods. Acre for acre it could be far more effective and far cheaper than building higher flood levies downstream. I think the problem will be convincing people in other counties to change rivers to benefit people and states downstream.

[StCreed]

In The Netherlands we're also returning from the practice of straight lines to more meandering rivers, as straight rivers tend to dump so much water that our country is flooded. Meandering rivers absorb more water and release it over a longer time period, which is both better for the environment (more water) and for the people living nearby (less water in their homes).

[cliffwoodbury]

good job on figuring out the problem - now the harder part - repairing the damage!!!

[GamingFruguy]

At 0:51 that's not 6 meter high banks of sediment. Probably more like 3 meters or so.

[adampalmer]

Really cool piece, definitely one of the most interesting videos I’ve watched in a while! 👍✅

[kayzeaza]

It’s nice to see PA get some spot light for once on YouTube lol

[Doc-Holliday]

I’ve lived next to a high banked river for a quarter of a century. It floods or at least rises significantly an average of once a month, each time depositing silt and reshaping the banks of the river. Based on my experience I believe the conclusion from geologists from the 50’s.

[neltonrd]

Brazil has one of the best environmental protection laws in the world. Here, river banks are untouchable. Many meters at both sides must be kept with the original vegetation and the access of animal is controled.

[lazarustenebrae]

Nice positive piece. I'm curious how it affected the number of mosquitoes in the area.

[wrightgregson]

are these high banks indicative of an incised river bed? Isnt the top of the bank the old flood plain? Could B-D-As gradually raise the river bed to its old level and save money by not having to haul the silt away???

[russellringland]

Cost per meter to reclaim waterways and reduce sediment and reduce nitrogen and phosphorus with Beavers is zero dollars. Every other solution would cost billions of dollars.

[henriklarsson]

Also change the farming practices around streams, if to much phosphorus and nitrogen is the problem. Create wider "highways" around water, regulate the usage of artificial manure like NPK and foliar feeding on farms close to streams. If they are gonna spray poisons then create a license for spraying, like we have in Sweden(don´t know how it is in USA), and regulate how close they can spray/fertilize to water.
And instead raise the price that the farmers get for their crops, so that they don´t have to go to the extremes all the time with fertilizers and spraying to get a profit. And i know, people will say "but we need the food", sure, we need all that High fructose corn syrup... if we would consume less of that shait, then there would be thousands of hectars of corn cleared up, for real food-production. The corn/sugar-industry will probably fight it to the bitter end tough.

[MichaelKlingerrr]

It's always amazing to learn new knowledge that you never knew you needed to know.