Just Add Water The Smoky Hill River Renewal Project's Key to Reviving a City’s Spirit
Rendering of a concept for the Founders Park and Western Star Mill Dam area.
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Renewal Project, and Eric Dove, a senior resources engineer at HDR, about the city’s efforts to restore the river and the importance of community engagement and long-term planning in developing a project that will benefit the residents and businesses of Salina. Tyler Young: Could you each tell our readers about your backgrounds and how you became involved with this project? Martha Tasker: I have been involved with water and wastewater treatment facilities for nearly 40 years. The city’s water supply is from the Smoky Hill River, so I have done a lot of research on its flows and conditions and on the nearby lake to figure out how it forms our water supply. My background in water supply brought me to the river renewal project. Salina has a population of about 50,000 people, so we often wear many hats in the community. I often joke that if the job description has the word water in it, it seems
Martha Tasker.
Eric Dove.
MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER
PHOTOS COURTESY OF ERIC DOVE AND MARTHA TASKER.
Historic photos of Salina, Kansas, show a city different from the one many would recognize today. Before the 1960s, the Smoky Hill River flowed through the town, providing a place for the city’s residents and visitors to gather, fish, and enjoy themselves. The river also powered several grain mills, making it a key economic driver for the community. However, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers installed a flood control levee, it restricted water flow and strangled the river. The once-flowing river soon filled with sediment and debris, becoming an eyesore for the town. Friends of the River, a local grassroots non-profit organization, began organizing in 2007 to inspire local interest in revitalizing the river corridor. Building on their work, the City of Salina and HDR, Inc., are working to restore the unsightly riverbed and turn it back into a focus of recreation and business development. Tyler Young of Municipal Water Leader recently had the opportunity to speak with Martha Tasker, the utilities director for Salina and a project manager for the Smoky Hill River
