Hazel Run is at risk

Not just Hazel Run – most/all area creeks that drain areas that have been developed are not in good condition due to impervious surfaces, steep slopes that are not original natural slopes and storm water runoff.

it’s not that easy and “feel good” measures won’t really address the real problems.

we need to have comprehensive water quality data to know what the specific problems are – along the watershed.

In some places, it might be septic tanks, in others impervious services, in yet others – steep slopes that are eroding.

Do we actually have pet feces in the water all up and down the creek? I seriously doubt it.

Remember – most woods have critters… lots of critters – squirrels, raccoons, possums – and they poop – and they have been pooping for thousands of years without “polluting” creeks so there is more going on than just pet feces. unless there are LOTS of pets pooping everywhere – and I do doubt that as they. are probably a small percentage of the total pooping critters in forested areas.

The bigger problem is that just telling people to clean up after their pets is not going to be effective as a solution… and we really do not even have anything concrete to base that advice on to start with.

Why a rain barrel? It’s not really going to do anything in any one inch+ or more rain… which is going to easily and quickly overflow the rain barrel and then runoff into the streams.

It’s whats on the ground between the house and the creek that is the problem and I’ve yet to see a study that would tell us how effective rain barrels are (or are not) but if you look at the average storm pond and think of it in terms of how many rain barrels it would take to duplicate that volume – you”d realize how silly this idea really is.

Look at the more modern developments that have storm ponds – a realize that rain barrels are less than 1% (if that much) of the capacity of those ponds.

We all want to “feel good” about doing “something” to do our part but what we really need to do is recognize the realities and what it is going to really take to deal with the problem – and it’s going to involve money from each of us, and in reality – the creation of storm water authorities that will be facilities that will capture and sequester runoff – even treat it in some cases before releasing it – and comprehensive monitoring to monitor performance and to use that data to make further improvements.

this is no free lunch on this and while “feel good” measures might make some feel “good” – if we are really and truly serious about the problem – we need to have real performance metrics – and measure – up and down the watershed…. and fix the problems as they are identified.

Developers and Taxpayers probably will need to be paying into a fund to do this and the folks who say they care about this problem – need to be honest about what it will take to really improve things.