Sunday August 6, 2006

SWIMMER CROSSES THE OHIO TO PROTECT POLLUTION

By Feoshia Henderson Enquirer Staff Writer

Downtown – Lynne Cox tucked her brown shoulder-length hair into a green swimming cap and jumped feet first into the Ohio River from the steps at Sawyer Point.

A crowd that had gathered Saturday afternoon behind the swimmer shouted at Cox and five others who swam across the brown, choppy river.  “Don’t drink the water!”  “Keep your mouth closed!”

Twenty minutes later, the daring swimmers were on the river’s Newport side.  A small boat brought them back to Sawyer Point.  “It was beautiful,” Cox said.  “The water must be 80 degrees.”

Cox, an International Swimming Hall of Fame inductee and author, has crossed the Nile River and the icy Bering Strait.  But Cox, 49, of Los Angeles swam in the Ohio River on Saturday for the first time.

Welcomed by Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory, Cox was here to oppose the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission’s proposed changes to water pollution standards.  She was joined by four local swimmers and a woman from the New York State’s Hudson Valley.  “We believe water quality is important,” Cox said.  “We want to keep the river clean.”

Among the proposed changes is a revision of pollution control standards for E. coli sampling to allow 10 percent of those samples from flowing stream water to exceed standards.  The standards are aimed at easing the burden on aging sewer districts that can’t meet runoff standards during wet weather, a commission official has said. 

Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky have committed to spend more than $2 billion to fix sewer overflows, which account for the majority of the sewage that gets into the river.  The Sierra Club and Rivers Unlimited, environmental groups that sponsored the swim, are against the changes.

Earlier in the day, at Newport bookstore, Cox signed copies of her books, “Swimming in Antarctica” and “Grayson,” detailing Cox’ swim with a baby gray whale.

Copyright 2006, Enquirer.com