Dog River overflows with trash again

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - People like Daniel Broadus call Dog River their “quiet place.”

But after heavy rains, it's more like a trashy place.

“Basically, now it's a junk yard kind of,” said Broadus.

Lucille Allen Moran lives in her dream house right on Dog River. She said every now and then, unwelcome neighbors show up in her backyard on the river bank.

"Buckets, cans, bottles, needles you name it it's in here,” said Moran.

  This isn't the first time this sort of flooding has happened.

Environment officials said storm water runoff, littered with trash, flows into drains and straight into Dog River.

A problem Moran deals with all too much.  Sometimes, she finds herself knee deep in the river, cleaning up the trash.

“It’s a lot of work for us. It's a lot of work for everybody, but what's more important is that it shouldn’t even be here in the first place,” said Moran.

Moran said taking care of the river should be a collective responsibility.

 “To me, the oil spill is one thing but this trash is just as important. It's got to be cleaned up. It’s got to not come into the waterways,” said Moran.  

According the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, the city is responsible for the quality of some of the city’s waterways including Dog River.  

ADEM penalized the city, through a consent order , with earlier this year for not complying with the standards set by its storm water permit.

 ADEM also required the city to submit a report and come up with some solutions on how to  improve the water quality.

So far ADEM said the city is complying with its penalties. It has submitted its report and its payment.

To learn more about how litter and storm water runoff can affect the community click here.