"AUBURN — Romeo Michaud looked at the Androscoggin River on Friday, remembering how he fished for hornpout as a boy.

Over time, he and others stopped eating the fish they caught as the river became among the most polluted in the country.

He remembered the stench and big pads of pollution floating past.

'The land was perfect, but the river was terrible,' he said.

Today, Michaud, 77, strolls along the river on morning walks. In his lifetime, he's seen the Androscoggin go from clean to dirty to getting clean again."

Bonnie Washuk reports for the Lewiston Sun Journal August 15, 2010. [2]