The stench is gone and, slowly, the fish are returning to the Emscher, a river through western Germany's industrial heartland that for decades was not just a blot on the landscape but officially deemed an open sewer.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz celebrated the river's revival Thursday, hailing the 30-year effort to rewild the Emscher as an example of the perseverance that the country would also need in transforming its economy to a cleaner, greener future.
