From Sewer to Scenic: The Cochecho River's Remarkable Recovery

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with former Mayor George Maglaras, owner of George's Marina, about the dramatic transformation of the Cochecho River from one of the most polluted waterways in America to the recreational resource Dover residents enjoy today.

Maglaras shares the history of river pollution that began after Dover's Black Day flood in 1896 and intensified through the mid-20th century. Before the Clean Water Act of 1972, the Cochecho River served as an open sewer for all domestic waste, industrial chemicals from tanneries and chrome plating plants, and medical waste from hospitals. The pollution was so severe that Cornell University ranked it among the top 10 most polluted rivers in the United States in the early 1960s. The river would literally foam with detergent suds, boil from chemical reactions, and kill thousands of migrating fish annually.

Maglaras credits his father and Uncle John, also a former Dover mayor, with leading the decades-long fight to clean up the river, despite significant community resistance. Their efforts culminated in Dover's first wastewater treatment plant in 1960, though only half the city was initially connected. The complete cleanup required separating storm drains from sewer systems throughout the city, a process that took over 20 years.

Through vivid personal anecdotes, including falling into toxic mudflats as a child, Maglaras illustrates just how contaminated the river once was. He emphasizes that without the environmental vision and persistence of earlier generations, none of today's waterfront development would have been possible.