As the city of Seattle has grown, the Duwamish River has been suffering the consequences.

The river that once wound its way to Elliot Bay was dredged and straightened for commerce in the late 1800s, when industries sprang up along its concrete banks. Hundreds of years of pollution have left harmful toxins along the river bottom.

The communities that call the river home are eager to clean it up, and seniors in the Community, Environment and Planning Program (CEP) at the UW are eager to help.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the lower Duwamish River is officially on the National Priorities List of the most hazardous sites in the country.

The Superfund program allows the EPA to clean up toxic sites, but the costs of cleanup require the government and local industries to also contribute funds. Polluters are legally obligated to help in the cleanup, lest they be fined $25,000 a day for non-compliance.

“The question we’re asking is bigger than the question of the river. We’re asking a more holistic question,” said B.J Cummings, an organizer for the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition (DRCC), which is working with CEP students to come up with effective solutions to clean the river.

The first of the cleanups was at a pair of sewer and storm water overflow pipes, where about 300 million gallons storm drain and sewage flow when it rains in Seattle.

Up to 12 feet of mud around the pipes contained hazardous chemicals, such as PCBs, mercury, arsenic and phthalates, a reproductive toxin, Cummings said.

Seven acres of mud were dredged, and in the process were spilled, contaminating a larger portion of the river. The toxic mud was then loaded onto train cars to be taken to a landfill. On its way there, the train derailed and spilled carloads of mud onto the bank of the Columbia River.

“It’s not enough to create a plan to clean it up; you have to actually make sure it’s done in a way that’s effective and that doesn’t spread pollutants into the river and into the food chain,” Cummings said.

The students involved in the project act as consultants for the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition (DRCC), and conduct neighborhood research, habitat restoration, and guide “visioning” workshops, in which the communities lining the river decide what they want the river to look like in 20 years.

The first visioning workshop was with interested community members from the Georgetown area of Seattle in early January. According to Rose Thornton, a UW senior in the CEP major, attendance was above expectations, and the small room “felt alive.”

“[It] was tricky, getting people to dream big,” Thornton said about the community response to the cleanup project.

Students and teachers learned about the river firsthand during a narrated boat tour of the Duwamish, where highly polluted areas and a park created by CEP students were pointed out along the way.

Cari Simson, an outreach and events coordinator for the DRCC, said the project will be a good learning experience for students and organizers exchanging ideas.

“Everyone’s ideas are welcome, from residents to recreational users, and from industrial employees to subsistence fishermen, and everyone else who sees a future vision of the Duwamish Valley and wants to share it,” she said.

Simson said these workshops are an opportunity for Seattle residents to envision the future of the neighborhoods around the river in a fun and supportive environment.

“[We] encourage them (community members) to think big and edit later,” Donna Krell said, during the boat tour presentation.

CEP majors have been comfortable bringing creative ideas to the table, Thornton said, in part due to their optimism and the nature of the program itself.

“The students run the major,” Thornton said, but students are held accountable even without the threat of a low grade. Rather than receiving grades, the students are evaluated by professors and submit evaluations of their own work.

“We are a funky microcosm,” she said.

Members of the Georgetown community shared with students what they wanted to see when the river is restored.

Amenities commonly seen in other parts of Seattle, like grocery stores, community centers and libraries, topped the list.

Infrastructure for transportation and industry was also a concern brought up by community members, as well as protecting the ecosystem and providing jobs for the community, all of which will be considered when restoring the river.

“The Duwamish is about industry and nature and people coming up against each other in interesting ways,” Cummings said.

[Reach reporter Erinn Unger at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]