Trash, Muck And Mud

March 18, 2006

Summer of 2004 the State worked on a drain in our ravine after we had complained about serious Mosquito problems. The drain had been blocked so the highway runoff was sitting there and then back-up into our little stream causing big problems. The smell was awful.

After many calls both the city and state seemed to blame each other and nothing got done. Then miraculously one day I heard the state fixing the drain. Still have all the trash but the drain was working. Yeah!!! Problem is, until we get rid of all the trash at the bottom of the ravine there will always be places for stagnant water.



Apparently some neighbors don’t mind the look of a landfill behind their home or mind the smell of rotting stagnant water but I was really surprised they could ignore the mosquito population when West Nile has became such a scare.

So today we noticed there wasn’t anything draining. The stream was moving but then went still towards where the drain should have been. When I continued to bag trash, Cliff took a shovel and started creating a little stream and then he uncovered the drain. What a marvelous noise to hear that start to suck away the muck.



Many people might wonder why I keep referring to the city for help when it’s private property. The city has a 50 foot wide right of way through our property. The right of way includes a bottom portion of the ravine. Including this entrance point where a lot of dumping occurs. We are hoping that No Dumping signs will be placed.



Trash collected today: 10 bags of trash plus another metal pile.