The City-Kind of River

As the Missouri River flows into the Kansas City Area, it enters one of the most developed, engineered and polluted stretches of it's 735-mile channelized route from Sioux city to the Mississippi. Here, the river that created the city- with the construction of the first crossing in 1869, the Hannibal bridge- is degraded, abused and partly destroyed by pollutants. Chemicals as common as fertilizers and herbicides, litter and even the noxious amounts of silt and sediment from it's own floodplain are saturating every part of our local watersheds. Incredibly, the river has been able to endure over 170 years of such disgrace- because we live with the water (and rely on it!) everything we do impacts the river in an unnatural manner- from the electricity we use to the channelization that was ordered by the Pick-Sloan Plan in 1944.

More recently (even in my lifetime!), as Kansas city has become the largest city in the Missouri's basin, increasing sand-dredging operations have degraded the riverbed within city limits as much 4.5ft, according to one 15-year study completed in 2005. The sand is used in the production of cement and our intense rate of growth feeds the industry to the point that we are seriously injuring the river's bed...At the turn of the millennium, about 7.4 million tons of sand and gravel were removed from the navigation channel annually, primarily south of Rulo, Nebraska. (rulo is only like 80miles as the crow flies)
Even as channel dredging poses an increasing threat to the river, it is only a small portion of boat and barge traffic here, and an almost insignificant one compared to the sediment, chemicals and litter dumped into it by other industries and sources in our city. Sand dredging operation: This one, near kaw point, was anchored but not operating.

Please do not think that I find the river disgusting- I love the Missouri!
I cannot say that I dont find it's neglect pretty sickening, but even this is something to be learned and appreciated about the river.

I was invited to cruise the section of river between riverfront park (I35) and Parkville with fellow River relief volunteer and trainee John Jansen while he developed his driving skills on calm water. Dave brought the boat- he played supervisor (and tour guide!) I sat on the trash near the bow- the elevated front of the boat protected me from an icy wind. John and Dave, however, sat in the worst of it and even John's arctic outfit left him frozen! We zipped upstream and Dave gave a history or identification to almost every landmark, bend or barge we spotted!

John and I arrived a bit early- spent our time collecting simple litter at Riverfront's boat ramp. There is no obvious dump here, but the amount of trash left by park visitors wasn't uncommon. Again, fast-food Styrofoam was the most abundant litter, but glass bottles, cans and fishing gear were also bad.

I found several medical-syringe-type bottles and fortunately no needles. An odd contraption anchored to shore with some rusted wire- a trap I guess- The thing was made of a tin can with many holes, about eight feet of wire and a piece of iron rebar. We collected two hefty bags worth of litter, and still the place needed help!

A cold, cloudy February day, but still it was so nice to be out on the water! Thanks John and Dave!

....AND LOTS OF BRIDGES! My favorite of this stretch has got to be the 7th street pair- bottom photo.