Wed June 4, 2008

LETTER: Litterbugs still abuse our river

Letter to editor, Wausau Daily Herald, May 30, 2008. Your recent editorial ,"It's a river, not a sewer, Wisconsin," stated "(T)he state's primary river really was a sewer pipe for the state" in previous years.

This statement is still true today -- not because people are intentionally throwing trash directly into the Wisconsin River (although for some this is true), but because all the storm sewers in the area empty directly into local steams and rivers, all of which lead to the Wisconsin River. Much of the garbage collected by students from along the banks of the Wisconsin River came from our streets and yards and found its way into the river through the storm sewer system.

I spent the day May 23 with students along the shores of the Wisconsin River collecting garbage. My assigned spot was just downstream from where a storm sewer emptied into the River. The garbage I found was cigarette butts, candy wrappers, water bottles, fast food containers -- mostly smaller trash that likely was thrown onto a local street and washed through the storm sewer system into the Wisconsin River.

The crew I was with collected four garbage bags of this type of trash. It takes a lot of cigarette butts and wrappers to fill four garbage bags. And that's just three people of the 250 who participated in the Wisconsin River Cleanup.

Until we stop using the storm sewers as a garbage chute, the Wisconsin River will continue to be our dumping grounds.

Diane Wessel, coordinator,
North Central Wisconsin Storm Water Coalition,
Wausau


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Posted By:GoGreenCW
on Wed June 4, 2008 3:58 pm