Sitting in his bright blue and muddied yellow caving gear, topped with a headlight and helmet, WKU Hydrogeology Professor Chris Groves posed for his portrait among photos of rocky caverns and watery walkways.
The New York Times published “A Miles-Long Cave in Kentucky Was a Smelly Disaster. Now It’s Spectacular.” Aug. 20 as part of its 50 States, 50 Fixes series. Reporter Hiroko Tabuchi and photographer Jason Gulley reported the transformation of Hidden River Cave in Horse Cave, Kentucky, from sewage-filled to tourist-attracting. Groves contributed hydrogeology and cave exploring expertise as the news story’s first quoted source.
Groves first experienced Hidden River Cave as a WKU student in 1983, before the 1987 cleanup project that rerouted wastewater from the groundwater systems.
“It was in the middle of summer, and summer’s even worse, because it’s hot and humid, stinky,” Groves said. “That was very visceral.”
He worked as a research assistant collecting water samples. While collecting samples from a well, he was approached by the mayor, who asked him for solutions.
Groves didn’t have any answers then, and soon left to pursue a PhD at the University of Virginia. He returned to Kentucky in 1991 as a new WKU professor and cave explorer. Hidden River Cave was largely unexplored, with only a half-mile stretch open to public tours before its closure.
Groves has since conducted fluorescent dye tracing experiments in the cave with his students and the Crawford Hydrology Laboratory, which he directs.
Small mesh receptor bags filled with charcoal are placed in groundwater streams. Groves and his colleagues inject fluorescent dye upstream, which is visible and easy to follow. Dye that manages to flow underground sticks to the charcoal, revealing how the waterways are connected.
Groves also visits Hidden River Cave with students on educational field trips and classes.
Crews dedicated to decontaminating the cave made a significant difference in the town and in the cave. Sewage smells no longer dominate downtown. Organisms like cave crayfish and cavefish reappeared in the ecosystem, marking the cave’s return to its natural state.
“It’s such a poster child for understanding groundwater. How it gets contaminated, how it could get cleaned up,” Groves said.
Gulley noticed the successful turnaround in Horse Cave and pitched it to The New York Times, according to Groves. The 50 States, 50 Fixes series searches for one positive environmental story per state.
Gulley suggested Groves not just as an expert source in the field, but as a friend. Gulley and Groves explored caves together when they were in school.
“The cave science and cave exploring community is not that big,” Groves said. “So a lot of people know one another.”
Tabuchi interviewed Groves over Zoom before both she and Gulley visited Horse Cave the following week.
Groves spent a nine-hour day inside the cave with the reporters and guides “talking nonstop.”
“You can imagine that taking cave photos, especially in big rooms, takes a special skill set,” Groves said. “Jason (Gulley) is a master.”
The Sunset Dome, a large open area within the cave, was featured in the article. The dome photo alone took several hours to shoot. Groves stars as one of two figures in the photo with his blue and yellow clothing.
“We were having to talk with walkie-talkies cause it was so hard to hear each other cause the room is so large,” Groves said.
Despite the long day in the cave, Groves described the experience as “really, really fun in every way.”
Gulley’s picture of Sunset Dome included two ant-sized figures standing under the tall ceiling. Seen in the same vibrant outfit as in his portrait, Groves explored not just a cave, but the geological formations that have always interested him.
