Launch: Dog River Park (formerly Luscher Park)
Launch Fee: Free.
Route: Up Dog River into the Bolton and Eslavia branches
Distance: 8.3 miles.
Pace: Leisurely.
Weather: Mostly cloudy, temperature in the mid 60s, winds calm, tide high, very little current.
 |
| 1) Happy Valentines Day! Boy, it doesn't take long for trash to end up in Dog River. |
 |
| 2) One burnt boat and one sunk boat. Isn't this a lovely scene? There ought be a law against private property owners polluting our public water ways! |
 |
| 3) Can you see the turtle? It was very difficult to see any wildlife today because of all the trash. Every single time I've ever been on Dog River it has looked like a trash dump. |
 |
| 4) Trash lining paradise on Dog River. |
 |
| 4) Just Ducky! |
 |
| 6) Here is a trash collecting boom. There was more trash on the downstream side of the boom than in the collection side. This boom is a small bandaid on an arterial trash gusher. |
 |
| 7) I met Daniel who was filling up his canoe with trash. Daniel doesn't even live on Dog River and hadn't planned on picking up trash on this outing. There is always hope when you see people like Daniel trying to make a difference. |
 |
| 9) Water fowl suffers |
 |
| 10) The trash situation on Dog River is beyond pathetic. |
It isn't that people and organizations aren't trying to solve the problem. Dr. Mimi Fearn and the Dog River Clearwater Revival have been feverishly working on cleaning up Dog River for years.
The trash in Dog River is the consequence of a serious problem with our current trash collection system. Despite attempts to get people to clean up litter by putting trash bins all along public roadways, the roadside ditches are full of trash. When it rains, the trash gets washed down the storm sewer pipes and drainage ditches into Dog River. The real question is, how is the trash getting into the roadside ditches and who is going to do what to stop it?
I tried to see if there was a particular source for this trash but trash lined the entire length of Dog River from Dog River Park to this boom near Halls Mill Road and Eslavia Creek. Does anyone really know where the trash is coming from? Does anyone with the City trash department really care?
Someone needs to be held accountable for the magnitude of this problem.
i work for the city of mobile and what you saw does not suprise me.
ReplyDeletewe had about 5 inches of rain in Mobile Friday night and Saturday morning.
it has been quite some time since the Dog River Estuary or drainage area has had this much rain.
5 inches of rain basically flushed several months of roadside trash into dog river all at once
what you saw was several months of trash and roadside debris flushed in a 12-18 hour period.
At one time MBCKC member Nancy Mil... worked for the city of mobile and if I recall correctly she worked in the enviromental area dealing with the trash.
you might ask her sometime and she could possibly shed some light on you question of where did the trash come from.
Trash comes from people. Roadside trash is the source of the illegal Dog River trash dump.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that can be done is to hire litter patrols and enact laws making littering a serious offense. (If one gets caught littering, they should be sentenced work for the city or county for free picking up trash for one month or pay a hefty fine.)
Another option is to fine property owners for not picking up litter from their yard. Who is going to fine the city and county for not picking up trash from the ditches in their right-of-way? Who is going to fine the garbage collectors who spill trash during their normal collection procedures and choose not to pick it up?
You people are not going to stop the junk from flowing because people are pigs. Find something else to do if you ain't happy about junk in your stream.
ReplyDelete