By Michael Pouncil I have always lived close to a river. Most United States citizens, as well as global citizens, live in close approximation to a river. I was born 2.5 miles from the Missouri River in Kansas City, Missouri, (KCMO) and for the first eighteen years of my life it was the largest body of water that I had ever known. There was a draw to the Missouri River (“Muddy MO” colloquially termed) for me growing up. There were many times in the short days of winter that me and a few of my motley crew would venture down to the banks of the river and listen to the crumbling and gnashing of ice, kick about the ice and jump micro-crevasses that pushed the river banks. Growing up we were always told the water was the cleanest water in the United States and there was never a need of concern for its consumption, this line is still pushed today; however, David Greene, manager of laboratory services for the City’s Water Services Department of KCMO tells us that, “People have to realize that drinking water is not sterile or absolutely free of all chemicals other than H2O,”…“We make it safe to drink and make it taste as good as possible, but the river changes rapidly, especially in spring and fall. Sometimes it comes in so churned up, it looks like chocolate milk.”(Drinking, n.d.). I bought this idea of “clean” water but always thought about the moniker “Muddy Mo” and how a river that resembles chocolate milk during spring storms come out of the tap so clean, well my idea of “clean”. Aaron Mesh’s titled piece “What the Muck”, in the Willamette Weekly spoke about Portland, Oregon’s sense of identity with its bridges, waterfront, and environmental harmony, but there always lurking, is the Superfund designated embarrassment, the Willamette River (2012). One thing that I have become aware of about KCMO was the missing analysis of profundity of the river ecosystem and ecological integrity of the Missouri River. Also absent are alternative voices and solutions as to why you cannot eat the fish, besides for once a month, but you can drink the tap water from the Missouri River several times a day; be as it may, this unfortunate absence churns up equivalent muck here in Portland Oregon. Furthermore, Portland, Oregon has the ninth largest indigenous population in the United States and the indigenous population was the ones that lobbied for Superfund status of the Willamette River. I did discover that an impressive filtration process in KCMO allow for the drinking of “Muddy MO’s” water possible. As quoted earlier, the water “… is not sterile or absolutely free of all chemicals…” (Drinking, n.d.) this is very clear and so is the industrial trajectory that leads us to negative impacts of today. Most of our rivers in the United States not being able to sustain organisms free of toxic contamination that harms trophic succession. Paul Robbins explains how social construction has us agree as a society that a particular characteristic is understood to be a true or false agreed on feature or attribute, for instance: Kansas City having the “cleanest” water in the country, Rivers are for industry not subsistence fishing, or polluted water is “clean” (2012). The social construction of Portland's Emerald City vibe and the environmental ever-green team; however, obfuscates the Willamette River and renders it as the industry work horse, but hey-look at our awesome bio-swells, bike lanes, and trains! Are these the “unspoken assumption” that Robbins is talking about? The fascinating assumptions that allow us to bury our history, beliefs, and ideologies about the Willamette River and the social processes that allow us to expose or hide authenticity and scrutinize our experience with the Willamette River (Robbins, 2012). Drinking Water’s Murky Past (n.d.). Retrieved from http://kcmo.gov/water/drinking-water/ Mesh, A. (2012). What the Muck? Willamette Weekly. Retrieved from http://www.wweek.com/portland /article-18986-what-the-muck.html Robbins, P. (2012). Political ecology: A critical introduction . Chichester, West Sussex; Malden, MA: John Wiley and Sons, 120-134
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