page_title: Miami River (Florida)
section_title: Dredging and pollution
hierarchical_section_title: Miami River (Florida) / Dredging and pollution
caption_attribution_description: English: On the Miami River in downtown Miami, Florida. 1/20/07.
context_page_description: The Miami River is a river in the United States state of Florida that drains out of the Everglades and runs through the city of Miami, including Downtown. The 5.5-mile long river flows from the terminus of the Miami Canal at Miami International Airport to Biscayne Bay. It was originally a natural river inhabited at its mouth by the Tequesta Indians, but it was dredged and is now polluted throughout its route through Miami-Dade County. The mouth of the river is home to the Port of Miami and many other businesses whose pressure to maintain it has helped to improve the river's condition.
context_section_description: Modification of the river began in earnest with the arrival of the Florida East Coast Railway in Miami in 1896. There was much dredging and filling along the river. The rapids at the head of the South Fork were removed in 1908. From 1909 to 1912, the Miami Canal was dug, bypassing the rapids at the head of the North Fork. The canal was dammed off from the river for most of the construction period. When the canal was opened to the river in March 1912, large amounts of Everglades muck and finely ground stone from the dredging were washed down the river, silting it. As a result, the lower river had to be dredged three times in two years.
  Dredging of the river and of canals connecting to the river continued into the 1930s. Deepening the Miami River (and other streams and canals draining into Biscayne Bay), as well as the drainage of the Everglades that was a major purpose of the dredging, led to saltwater intrusion in the area, forcing the abandonment of drinking water wells on several occasions. By the 1940s, dams were being installed on the canals leading into the Miami River to prevent salt water from traveling inland.
  The Miami River also became polluted. In 1897, Miami's first sewer line started emptying directly into the river. By the 1950s, 29 sewers were dumping untreated sewage into the river. Dade County constructed a sewage treatment plant on Virginia Key in the 1950s and connected sewer lines to it, routing the raw sewage away from the river.
caption: The Miami River in 2007
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