A documentary film on the cleanup of Detroit’s waterfront based on a book by UWindsor visiting scholar John Hartig will be screened tonight at St. Thomas of Villanova Catholic High School.

Clear Water: Detroit’s River Revival draws on the history of the River Rouge watershed included in Dr. Hartig’s book, Burning Rivers. In 1969, at the height of Detroit’s economic prosperity, the Rouge River caught on fire. Since then, it has made an ecological comeback, thanks to a concerted effort to repair the environmental damage and prevent further pollution.

Hartig, an internationally renowned conservation scientist, is a visiting scholar at the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research. Being at GLIER is a homecoming for Hartig — he was the first graduate to earn a PhD from the institute.

Hartig will participate in a panel discussion at the end of the screening of the documentary tonight.

The movie, showing at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 26, is being sponsored by the Detroit River Canadian Cleanup in partnership with the Friends of Canard River, the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board, the Essex Region Conservation Authority, and St. Thomas of Villanova Catholic High School.

The screening is free, but you must register to attend.

─ Sarah Sacheli