Tour highlights W.S. environmental concerns

By Jasmine Peterson and Maria Yankova
BengalNews Reporters

On a sunny, windy day in late April, groups of people equipped with fishing poles gather down by the Niagara River at Squaw Island.
 The river’s current is strong and rapid, and the water is seafoam green.
          But the river is contaminated by sewage, where some fish for food, making it the first stop on the Environmental Justice Walking Tour.
          Hosted by students at the University at Buffalo Law School, the tour took visitors through various troubled locations throughout the West Side. It’s based on a 36-page report produced by the students about environmental hazards in the neighborhood. The report focuses on Squaw Island, Buffalo Sewer Authority Treatment Plant and Rich Products.
  
Vanessa Glushefski, on West Side environmental  issues:

Squaw Island, just off of Niagara Street on Robert Rich Way, used to be a place for swimming and other activities, said student Irene Rekhviashvili. In the nineteenth century, it was a stop on the Underground Railroad; a place for slaves to rest on their way to Canada.
          Today, it is frequented by many people looking for fresh, affordable fish to eat.
          “The many refugee groups and immigrants, they used to fish back in their hometowns, so they continue this tradition here,” Rekhviashvili said.
           But pollution gets concentrated in parts of the river that are nonmoving, she said. There are also signs warning people not to swim. The United States Army Corps of Engineers recently took steps to close off the island due to drownings and health hazards.
          Congressman Brian Higgins put a stop to that because of how necessary the island is to the community. Higgins addressed a letter to the Buffalo Commander, in which he wrote that “wealthier people fish on boats, and less wealthy people fish on land,” making it unfair to the community to close off the island.
          “The benefits of having access are just tremendous,” Rekhviashvili said. “Maybe food for some, activities, having green space. It’s all very important.”
          At the coast of the river sits the Buffalo Sewer Authority Treatment Plant. A century ago, the river, Scajaquada Creek, Black Rock Canal and the Buffalo River were major depositories for sewage, said student Brendan McGrath.
          But as Buffalo’s population expanded, pollution in the water became a big problem. In 1938, the treatment plant was built to address this issue. However, the city still uses the sewer infrastructure from 1908, and there is now a combined sewer overflow problem.
          There’s a total of 1.75 billion gallons of sewer output into Buffalo’s waterways per year, McGrath said. One of the city’s 52 registered combined sewer overflow release valves is at the Niagara River, contaminating the same water people fish in. It takes only an inch of rain for valves to activate, releasing both sanitary and storm water waste into the river. But the Sewage Authority has submitted a proposal to the Environmental Protection Agency to control this issue, McGrath said.
          The plan proposes the use of green infrastructure, or natural resources, as an alternative to using sewers. One idea is to use the city’s vacant land as storm water holding environments to allow water to slowly absorb back into the ground instead of ending up in the sewer system, McGrath said.  
          Rich Products is just a few steps away from the river. The corporation's two massive buildings, each settled on either side of Robert Rich Way, are connected by an internal walkway that stretches over the street. Rich’s is in the process of expanding – it will soon replace a Niagara Street butcher shop with a parking lot. This may cause problems, said student Vanessa Glushefski said.

                     “When you are a corporation like Rich Products, you need to be mindful of what you’re doing,” Glushefski said. “Because, yes, they can buy this building, they can pave it into a parking lot -- that may be a viable business solution for them – however, they have to think of what that does to the neighborhood surrounding them.”
                     A parking lot is not only detrimental to the attractiveness of the neighborhood, but it may also give the impression that the area is lifeless and dilapidated, she said.
                    “This is why Rich’s buying this old butcher shop and turning it into a parking lot may not seem like a big deal initially, but it can become a big deal,” she said.
                     Despite the environmental issues in the area, there are signs of growth and change. On West Avenue, in the neighborhood across the street from Rich Products, some vacant lots are being used to grow fresh vegetables for the community. It’s part of an effort by 5 Loaves Farm, an outreach of Vineyard City Church on Potomac Avenue.
                    The project aims at “creating sustainable market gardens on Buffalo’s Upper West Side that produce healthy foods along with educational and economic opportunities,” according to its website.
                    Since last year, neighbors, volunteers and teenage interns from the area have grown onions, spinach, potatoes and other foods for the community, said Matt Kauffman, initiator of the community gardens. 
                    “We’re trying to engage neighbors,” Kauffman said. “Even the young teens in some of these things that are going on in the neighborhood and trying to be a positive voice for redeeming some of abandoned and vacant places here in Buffalo.”