Residents voice spill frustrations
Resident David Nelson, whose home backs up to the creek, called the environmental damage “an atrocity.”
“I could spend three minutes describing the wildlife I’ve seen in that creek over the last 32 years, and it’s brought a joy to my family,” Nelson said. “And, to hear there was a total loss...”
Nelson said dead fish, crawfish and worms filled the creek after the spill. He also described gray sludge coating rocks along the shoreline.
“As a resident, when will we know … when it will be safe for them to go back in the creek?” he asked, referring to children and pets.
Resident Matthew Rekers said the creek has long been part of daily life for his family.
“I’ve got five kids; we have six dogs,” Rekers said. “They run, jump into that creek. My kids have tried to drink out of that creek.”
Rekers said he witnessed widespread wildlife death after the spill.
“It had wiped out all the wildlife, all of it. It’s dead,” he said. “Crawfish crawling out dying, fish dying. My kids burying those fish.”
His wife, Kayla Rekers, said in a separate interview the family first noticed a sewer smell Saturday evening, May 9. The next day, their children found dead fish, crawfish and other aquatic life in the creek.
“Everything that was in the creek is dead,” she said. “And the moss
has completely turned gray where it touched the water.”
Kayla Rekers said residents initially struggled to determine whom to contact about the spill and said they received little direct communication afterward.
“They haven’t come to the residences,” she said. “They haven’t put up signs on our doors, mailboxes or anything.”
Resident Jaron Densky, who also lives along the creek, said neighbors warned him about the contamination when he returned from a trip.
“When I checked it out, the smell was dreadful,” Densky said.
Densky also expressed
frustration over trees removed during First Utility District’s sewer project, saying
replacement trees had not been planted.
