Urban Sprawl and The Fox River
Urban sprawl is a serious problem in America today. It is ruining
our rivers and depleting our land of all of it's resources. Urban
sprawl is doing this in our very own backyard, the Fox River.
Wisconsin residents might not think of the Fox River as a
river filled with toxic farm run-off and sewage treatment plant
waste. While the water receives sewage treatment as it heads
south, the water remains fairly clean. But once it passes through
suburban Chicago, the Fox is polluted with sewage, chemical fertilizers
and toxic run-off from roads and fields. Pollutants from suburban
lawns and parking lots also run-off into the river, killing fish,
polluting water, and who knows what else! 
The report by a water conservation study blames urban sprawl for the Fox's degradation near Chicago. More than eight million people live within 100 miles of the Fox, and 200,000 people get their drinking water from the river. The river supports 48 nature preserves, 118 natural areas and forest preserves. In the past 20 years, the area has seen a 30 percent population growth. Sewage treatment plants can't handle the population increase, and plants are planning to release 50 percent more waste into the stream This waste would feed algae,which would grow too big and choke out water plants that produce all the oxygen fish need to breath which would devastate the fish, like I said in my other report. This means bad news for the Fox. Without any action,our river might become worse than it was 20 years ago, and that was loathsome and repulsive!
Chicago's sprawl
will continue to damage the Fox until "smart growth"
plans are used. Conservation groups urge the state to pass a
water pollution permit fee and initiate a stricter policy on
sewage treatment plants. More complete town planning to stop
sprawl would also prohibit pollutants from entering the river.
The plans for "smart growth" have already been made;
all we have to do is enforce them . This must be done! Our river's
future is at stake! Together, we will save the Fox River!