VISIONARIES: Julie O’Neill
Posted on Thursday, January 7th, 2010
by block club
Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper is a non-profit that began 20 years ago with a mission to clean up local waterways. They want people to swim, fish and play in the Niagara River without fear of getting sick from pollutants. Julie O’Neill, the executive director, explains why cleaner, more accessible water makes for a happier and healthier Buffalo. -Leslie Church
What does Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper do?
We restore the health of the Niagara River and all of the little streams and tributaries that go to it and by that we mean both the environmental aspects and also community access to the water for fishing and swimming and boating and kayaking and all of those other good things.
What is unhealthy about the river?
Well, because Buffalo bloomed at a time when there weren’t good environmental laws we have a fair amount of pollution in the river. So now we’re trying to reclaim that environmental function so that we can have docks and fish, so we can protect the water quality of the Great Lakes for generations to come.
What does having polluted waterways do to Buffalo?
Well I think if you can imagine living on the Outer Banks or Miami or even in New England there’s almost an expectation that you’re going to be interacting with the water. And what has happened here, because we have polluted water is that people here don’t expect to actually touch the water or drink the water or eat the fish, because we’ve got this mental block. And so that means that as much as our water is attractive and a wonderful resource, there’s a huge portion of our population that never physically connects with it beyond the fact that that’s where their drinking water comes from. This is really about repairing that connection.
In the bigger picture, what does it do for Buffalo to restore this connection with the waterways?
Buffalo is part of a really special place being part of the Great Lakes. I think the world is facing both energy and water shortages and we’re rich in sustainable energy and water sources, so I think that we’ve got a very, very bright future. But how we interact with our water and whether or not we can fully interact with it is a choice that we have to make. We don’t have to wait for a major infrastructure project to have a vibrant waterfront. We just have to reconnect the people with the waterfront and it’ll make a big difference.
