Daragh Deegan, the Water Quality Manager for the City of Elkhart, is a graduate of Goshen High School. He went on to Goshen College where he earned a bachelor's degree in Environmental Science. He also earned a master’s degree from Purdue University.
Part of Deegan’s duties include overseeing the cooperative biological monitoring effort between Elkhart and South Bend to monitor the local waterways by sampling fish and other organisms. He formerly served as an aquatic biologist from 2009 to 2023, but he still oversees the program.
Prior to his position as an aquatic biologist, Deegan was performing other environmental remediation duties as the City of Elkhart’s Brownfield Manager. He also worked in a couple of related roles before taking the Brownfield position. Deegab interned in the field for a couple of summers while he was attending Goshen College.
“I got my foot in the door, and I also got a taste for being an aquatic biologist,” Deegan said.
Since he started with the city, Deegan has observed Elkhart overcoming many of the obstacles facing its water quality. He noted the St. Joseph River was practically dead at one point. It was actually used as a sewer prior to Elkhart’s first wastewater treatment plant in the 1950s.
Deegan explained the river had only three species of fish living in the water prior to remediation: the common carp and two catfish species. There are now 87 different species of fish recorded in the river since Elkhart’s water quality program started in 1998. One of those fish, the Greater Redhouse, is the species Deegan called a flagship species. The fish eats clams and mussels off the bottom of the river.
“There are not that many out in the river, but we do have a population that’s sustaining itself,” Deegan said.
Deegan was quick to point out that there are still some issues with the river. Rainy weather brings stormwater pollution when the rain hits the asphalt and makes its way to the river. The polluted rainwater has an adverse effect on St. Joe’s ecosystem. However, Deegan noted conditions have improved on the river since the 1900s.
Deegan was born in Ireland. His family moved to Goshen when he was 15 years old. Growing up in intercity Dublin, Deegan wasn’t exposed to much in the aquatic biology field. He explained there were a couple of polluted rivers in Dublin, thus meaning he wasn’t afforded much of an opportunity to do anything in water while living in the city. He developed his penchant for aquatic biology when his family took vacations to the West Coast of Ireland as a child. It was there that he got to explore marine environments.
“Some of my interest and passion related to the work I have now stems from being a child in Ireland,” Deegan said.
Deegan doesn’t get the chance to travel back to Ireland often. His two grown sons have never been there, and they’re going to make it a point to go back to the old country for a visit. Ireland has some significant cultural differences that may be foreign to your average American. Deegan believes the cultures are very different, even if the two countries share a language, and there are elements of Ireland that Deegan misses.
“I just kind of miss the atmosphere and the culture,” Deegan said.