05/03/2012 - Upper Dog River The Day After Heavy Rain

Header image is the obligatory photo of wood ducks with the sickening background of trash that is so common in Mobile's urban waterways because the City still has no litter traps and the city still employs no one to clean up the trash that comes from their Storm Water System. The City of Mobile has until July 23, 2012 to send in a plan to ADEM that will show how they will reduce the load of "floatables" sent down drainage ditches after heavy rains.

A few people have hinted that I'm spending too much time taking photos of trash and they want to see more photos of wildlife. 

Okay, the first seven photos of this post are of wildlife. Sorry - I'll try to be less biased in the future. Here are some turtles in the above photos.

I don't see very many Coot in Dog River.

Here is a goose nibbling on what looked like a piece of plastic.

A pelican is stretching out its wings after having just landed high atop a beautiful Spanish Moss draped tree.

A couple of sea gulls.

A Snowy Egret walking along the sandy shore.

I invite everyone to kayak Dog River Scenic Blueway in Mobile Alabama. You will see how much the City of Mobile cares about making your visit memorable. Isn't this a lovely view of new garbage from the kayak?

Trash in the water ranges from almost invisible pieces of Styrofoam to large furniture.

Trash along undeveloped properties gets abundant behind the vegetation because no one removes it. This is old trash, some of which functions as mosquito breeding grounds.

The combined forces of wind, current, intertwined limbs, natural debris and "floatables" sometimes create floating trash bergs like this.

Wind also blows trash into corners, like at Dog River Park.

Hey, bring your kids to Dog River Park to go frog hunting along the shoreline. Just be careful that they don't step on syringe needles, eat any of the pills in those floating prescription bottles or drink the contents of sometimes unopened cans of beer.

The City of Mobile encourages public use of Dog River by providing this free four-lane boat ramp. They want you to go out on the water but they won't keep it clean. That is a television tube floating in the nearest boat ramp which is considered hazardous material due to the chemicals coating the inside the cathode ray tube.

Storm water runoff litter can end up just about anywhere along Dog River depending on amount of rain, tide, and wind direction. 

If I was Elvira or Lucille, I'd be writing a complaint letter to Vernon Crockett. Vernon is Chief of the Stormwater Management Branch Water Division of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. 1400 Coliseum Blvd, Montgomery, AL 36130-1463. ADEM is monitoring the City of Mobile for their management of "floatable" litter pollution. I wonder if ADEM officials were monitoring this new garbage...Ha!

The day after this heavy rain cleanup efforts were already in progress. Some residents are having to pick up what amounts to several full trash containers dumped on their shoreline. As a citizen, you have a right to file a lawsuit against the City of Mobile due to aesthetic, conservational, recreational, or physical injuries as a result of the Clean Water Act violations. 

Clearly, when you have trash that came from Mobile's storm water system polluting your property and no one will do anything about it, there are some Clean Water Act violations! Here, read up on your right to sue at this link: Click Here. How do you spell trash relief? L-A-W-S-U-I-T

Some people are resorting to protecting their canals with home made boom. In this case, the boom is stopping the wind from blowing the trash up in this canal. When the tide or wind direction changes, this trash will float somewhere else, but not up into the canal. This boom is made with Styrofoam Noodles threaded through rope.