Misleading FOX 10 Storm Water Pollution News Report
Matt Barrentine, a Fox 10 News Reporter says, "A litter trap was installed in December of 2012 on Eslava Creek near Halls Mill road . . . Apparently it’s worked well enough for the city to soon install a much larger one." [1]
What? You gotta be kidding me Matt. After reading the above quote in the above referenced article, I now have a lowest of low opinion of Fox 10 News.
If Fox 10 news had any inkling of what's going on in Mobile, they would know that the litter trap at Eslava Creek HAS FAILED during EVERY large rain since it was installed and that the litter trap still doesn't work right. That is one reason why the City is putting in a new litter trap in the same creek.
The poorly designed DESMI litter trap in Eslava Creek installed at Holcombe Avenue has been one big nightmare for the City ever since they installed it. Last time I observed it being cleaned out it took close to a dozen city workers and all that was in the litter trap was vegetation because the trap had allowed all the litter to flow over the submerged booms during the heavy rains the day before.
It is only heavy rains that generate the large amounts of storm water litter that inundate downstream residents with trash pollution. The only time the litter trap is really needed to work is during heavy rains. Since it was installed the Eslava Creek litter trap has removed only a very very low percentage of litter allowing the vast majority of litter to flow over the submerged litter trap booms during heavy rains. Hell, the Bamboo Tree downstream catches more litter than the litter trap but the City never empties the Bamboo Tree Litter Trap.
Fox 10 News should know that the ONLY reason the City of Mobile is putting in a new litter trap is because they're being forced to by a couple of lawsuits, certainly NOT because the current litter trap has been working so well. It took a lawsuit by the volunteer Dog River Clearwater Revival group to get the City of Mobile to take some responsibility for the litter the Mobile community sends into Dog River in the first place. Due to that lawsuit the City conceded to install a litter trap but chose to use a cheap DESMI litter trap instead of a Band-a-Long Litter Trap that the group wanted installed which the manufacturer guarantees to work.
The last I heard, a new bigger and better litter trap and a working litter removal boat are two of the items the City of Mobile agreed to do as concessions to a SECOND lawsuit, this one by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management which also involved a hefty six figure fine against the City of Mobile.
I am really disgusted at the way Fox 10 News so readily files totally inaccurate news when I have tried so hard over several years to educate the media and public on the storm water trash issue and on the Eslava Creek Litter Trap that has failed to work each time it rains hard. The consequence of the City's DESMI litter trap failure is the continuation of the storm water trash pollution of upper Dog River and Eslava Creek.
To date the City of Mobile's MS4 related storm water trash continues to pollute the shorelines of Eslava Creek and Upper Dog River even after the recent Coastal Cleanup. To date the City of Mobile still ignores the trash pollution in Dog River instead of putting a worker out in Dog River to remove the City's storm water trash.
The way Fox 10 News reports on the City's storm water trash issue, it makes it appears like the City of Mobile is doing good. Hello, Fox 10 News, anybody home? The City of Mobile's storm water trash in Eslava Creek and Dog River is still there TODAY despite complaints, fines and lawsuits. If you don't believe me then let's go kayaking and I'll show you trash.
Obviously Fox 10 News editors do not have a Grip on the news. But, Matt does have the right to come to his own erroneous conclusions and share it on mainstream media. It just makes wonder who he works for - the news station or the City of Mobile.
[1] http://fox10tv.com/2014/10/30/another-litter-trap-for-mobile/