The bad side
Trash town? Rare rain unleashes a floating garbage dump on the Buffalo Bayou
There's no easy way to say this, so we're just going to come out and say it. The Buffalo Bayou is looking kinda trashy lately, isn't it?
We mean, of course, as opposed to normal. Sure, those murky waters never appear inviting enough to subject yourself to a dip or a drink. But lately, the bayou is downright dirty.
Well, there's a reason for that.
The culprit begins with a capital R — for "rain." The weekend's downpour brought some much-needed soakage to the area, turning our city's most famous drainage ditch into ... exactly what it's meant to be.
The sludge you wantonly toss out your windows on the freeways is getting flushed out from the bayous and traveling all the way to Galveston Bay. And Houston's getting a front row seat for the rubbish parade.
"There are 17 billion drink bottles sold in Texas every year. As much as 20 percent end up on our roadways," Mike Garver, a board member for the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, told KHOU. "The rain picks them up, puts them in the storm sewer. The storm sewers take them to our streams. It’s a really big problem."
You think?
"It goes straight into the waterways, down Buffalo Bayou, and down all of our local waterways," Bob Stokes of the Galveston Bay Foundation told KHOU. "Once it gets down to Galveston Bay it affects wildlife. It affects boaters. They hit it. It’s just the kind of thing we don’t want to see in Galveston Bay."
We needed the rain, man. But it seems every cloud really does have a silver lining.
Moral of the story? Stop being gross, Houston. Aren't we responsible citizens by now? Put your garbage where it goes, and recycle what you can already. Sheesh.
