South Platte River: Flowing into an Urbanized Future

Image: https://www.greenwaycurrent.com/ (The Greenway Foundation)

By Christen Brown

“Many hands make light work.” Originating from John Heywood in The Proverbs of John Heywood published in 1546.

On Saturday, September 25, 2021, a mass of volunteers made their way to the Fall South Platte Stewardship Day, which The Nature Conservancy presented. This Stewardship Day involved cleanup and restoration efforts to the surrounding Globeville Landing Park and South Platte riverside, continuing a 47-year community undertaking caring for the South Platte River.

 In 1974, Denver Mayor Bill McNicholas and former State Senator Joe Shoemaker co-founded Platte River Development Committee (PRDC) and initiated the reclamation of the heavily polluted South Platte River.  On June 16, 1965, a flood deposited years of accumulated sewage, industrial waste, chemical waste, and trash from the River onto a quarter of a million acres resulting in the equivalent of $14 billion in damages. After this natural disaster, non-profit, public, private, and philanthropic organizations began to invest in the care and development of the South Platte River.

PRDC set forth the following goals: environmentally reclaim 10.5 miles of South Platte in Denver and establish the River as a recreational amenity; create open space parks and natural areas throughout the River; create concrete hike-bike-maintenance paths along the River; connect the River improvements to the existing park and recreational amenities, and; ensure that each improvement continues or expands the flood-carrying capacity. In 1976, The Greenway Foundation (TGF), a non-profit organization, came into creation to solicit and obtain contributions to reach the primary goals of PRDC as city funds alone could not accomplish them. Alongside these solicitations, TGF’s mission is to “revitalize, restore, and reclaim the South Platte River as an environmental, recreational, cultural, scientific, and historical amenity for the city of Denver;” or more succinctly, “Revitalize Rivers and Reconnect Communities.” Between 1976 and 1983, TGF obtained contributions from various foundations and Federal, State, and Local Agencies, which were used to achieve PRDC’s goals. TGF funneled the money into efforts to eliminate 250 sources of pollution dumps, construct a concrete bike path along the 10.5 miles of South Platte in Denver, and complete projects in North, Central, and South Denver. TGF also replaced boat amenities to encourage recreational use and initiated a youth employment program to assist with the maintenance of parks and trails. Spanning 40 years, TGF – through the aid of partnering organizations – has collectively created 100 miles of riverside trails and more than 100 acres of riverside parks and natural areas.  This has accumulated to more than 100,000 linear feet of water quality and recreational improvements, and more than $100 million invested in improvements to the River and Metro Denver tributaries, resulting in more than $10 billion in benefits to areas adjacent to the River.

Vast improvements have been made in the decades since the flood, but more are still to occur from the continued effort of TGF and the larger community sharing this responsibility to reclaim the River. Primarily, the River faces challenges from community runoff originating from streets, industry, and wastewater treatment plants resulting in troubling E. coli, nitrogen, and phosphorous levels within the water. Due to the levels of E. coli, the South Platte River is listed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s impaired waterways for pathogens. A quarter of the River does not meet state water quality standards, and six Superfund cleanup sites are located on the River’s metro watershed. While these challenges are ongoing, efforts to combat these challenges continue.

On November 3, 2020, Ballot Measure 2A was approved to increase the sales tax an additional 0.25% for a total sales tax in Denver of 8.56%. The goal of the increase is to fund environmental and climate-related programs and programs designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution with an estimated budget of $40 million per year. These funds go toward city parks, trails, open spaces, and the restoration of waterways, rivers, canals, and streams. In addition, these funds are going toward the “Game Plan for a Healthy City” with restoration for the South Platte River’s “ability to provide natural benefits that promote water quality, flood control, ecosystem health and socio-economic growth.” Additionally, Jeff Shoemaker plans to utilize 2A’s funds for “The River Mile” – a community development project with an estimated 7,600 homes – to reduce their water footprint and add 27 acres of parks and open spaces adjacent to South Platte.

Denver has used other ballot measures to implement and address environmental and climate change concerns related to infrastructure and waterways. The city of Denver has developed a holistic approach to land use and water resource planning in the “Denver One Water Plan”, which began in the spring of 2020 and was finalized in the summer of 2021. This plan was implemented to “enhance collaboration, and predictable land use and development policies… [to] promote healthy watersheds in an equitable, economically, and environmentally beneficial manner.” After the planning stage is finalized, implementation can commence for sustainable holistic management practice in Denver.

Altogether, South Platte River exemplifies that, from an abandoned polluted habitat, a community can come together to revitalize, and institute change with community events, educational programs, and public policy. South Platte River will continue to flow through the ever-growing city, forging ahead just as the efforts to reclaim it have continued to.