Good news! Valdosta Engineering has added a net to the home-made Valdosta City trash trap in the Lee Street detention pond on One Mile Branch, upstream of Ashley Street, Drexel Park, VSU, Sugar Creek, and the Withlacoochee River.

Before and after

Bobby McKenzie opened an issue in Valdosta’s Click ‘n’ Fix smartphone app on September 11, 2022. Valdosta officials closeed it twice, but he persisted, reminding them that a year ago in July 2021, at the invitation of WWALS, trash trap company Osprey met with WWALS and Valdosta Stormwater Manager Angela Bray and then-City Engineer Pat Collins, presenting their Litter Gitter, which has a net in addition to a boom. Bobby also sketched the idea on an image of the current Lee St. trap.

Apparently current City Engineer Benjamin O’Dowd got the picture, because yesterday Bobby sent a picture of that trash trap with a net on top of it.

Valdosta so far has not said in the Click ‘n’ Fix thread that they have done that, but I’m going ahead and announcing this good news.

Thank you, City Engineer Benjamin O’Dowd, for the net on Valdosta’s Lee Street detention pond trash trap!

And thanks to Bobby McKenzie for his persistence.

Yes, I know Bobby’s hyperbole can rub people the wrong way. However, if Valdosta had moved ahead and fixed its trash problem in less than a dozen years after Valdosta’s own 2010 Stormwater Master Plan spelled out this trash problem in Valdosta’s creeks, with pictures, and more than a year after WWALS presented to Valdosta solutions, nobody would have to be reminding them now.

And there is much more to do. Some of that trash has recognizable labels: Burger King, Zacadoos, and Coca-Cola, for examples. Those fast food outlets and the owners of their parking lots need to be following the actually excellent Valdosta trash ordinances. If they won’t, Valdosta needs to be enforcing them.

You can help by reporting any trash (or other problems) you see through Click ‘n’ Fix smartphone app.

For much more about the trash situation, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/trash/

Excerpt from Click ‘n’ Fix Issue ID: 13393058,
Submitted To: City of Valdosta
Category: Storm Grates
Viewed: 5 times
Neighborhood: Valdosta
Reported: on 09/11/2022

DESCRIPTION
I don’t know why Stormwater Management continues to refuse closing the gap in the chain link fence to stop the trash.

Any case the home made trash trap isn’t working, more trash is escaping than being caught….just close the gap in the fence already…or at least put a raised bet on the trash trap to actually catch the trash!

[See intermediate pictures.]

Bobby Mckenzie (Registered User)
If the trash would stay in the pond it wouldn’t be so bad…but the trash escapes the pond and is dumped directly into the creek. It goes straight into 1-Mile Branch and into Sugar Creek then the Withlacoochee River.

CLOSE THE GAP IN THE FENCE!!!!!
09/11/2022 · Flag

CLOSED Angela Bray (Verified Official)
This was shared and denied, as it was before. The city will not close the gap. Using a screen, fence, etc. could potentially cause upstream flooding of properties and roads, if clogged by natural debris and/or litter. A floating device is required at that location.
09/12/2022 · Flag

REOPENED Bobby Mckenzie (Registered User) Yes flooding because the water can’t pass through a very porous chain link fence🤦‍♂️. Maybe we should take another 12 years to study that like it took before it was finally decided to remove the logjam at Sugar Creek🤷‍♂️
09/12/2022 · Flag

Bobby Mckenzie (Registered User)
Regardless the trash STILL THERE and needs cleaned out before it gets washed downstream! It was opened back up because the trash in the trap and the pond needs to be cleaned out!
09/12/2022 · Flag

CLOSED Angela Bray (Verified Official)
It will not be done. My boss, Ben O’Dowd, said call him so he could better explain this to you via the phone. His number 229.259.3530.
09/12/2022 · Flag

Angela Bray (Verified Official)
Angela Bray assigned this issue to Engineering Department
09/12/2022 · Flag

Bobby Mckenzie (Registered User)
I called. It wasn’t hard to explain. He said the gap in the fence won’t be closed because closing the fence would allow trash buildup and dam up the area and cause flooding.

Perhaps the trash trap can be modified and fitted with something to prevent the trash from following up and over the boom and into the pond.

I mean, it can be modified by the question is WILL it be done.🤷‍♂️
09/12/2022 · Flag

REOPENED Bobby Mckenzie (Registered User)
In July 2021 this company came and presented its unique trash trap with a cage device to CATCH AND HOLD trash until someone could be made available to come out and empty it. The previous City Engineer Pat Collins and Stormwater Management Angela Bray were both in attendance of that presentation. I can’t say Pat and Angela weren’t interested but I can say that absolutely nothing came of it. Matter of fact further discussions with those city representatives on procurement of a trash trap device were met with a the city will not support funding or maintaining/cleaning out the trash trap for whole year since that presentation.

Eventually elected officials were persuaded to persuade the responsible city department to purchase a trash trapping device.

Of course the city departments management settled on the cheapest products on the market which was the Water Goat. Some trash still flows over the Water Goat yes. But the Water Goat still catches a large amount of trash AND IT IS CLEANED OUT AFTER EACH RAIN EVENT BY A VOLUNTEER! But after 12 years of doing absolutely NOTHING! With the Water Goat, it’s a you take what you can get!

The city does absolutely nothing with this trash trap and relies 100% on a volunteer to clean and maintain it.

For whatever reason the city FINALLY decided to tray and make a homemade trash trap. The City’s trap is NOT cleaned out any where near the frequency as the Water Goat is. There is NO volunteer that cleans the City’s homemade trash trap. The City’s homemade trash trap is way more ineffective because SOOO much more trash flows right over the top of the trap and into the pond.

The trap could be modified to have a cage or fencing/netting device on top of the trap to keep the trash from flowing over the boom.

Also, the cage/net/fencing device could be added to the Water Goat to help keep trash from flowing over the barrier there too.
09/12/2022 · Flag

Bobby Mckenzie (Registered User)
Will Stormwater modify their homemade device to include a cage/fence/net modification on top to keep trash from sliding over the boom?
09/12/2022 · Flag

ACKNOWLEDGED Angela Bray (Verified Official)
Trap was cleaned on the 13th. We’ll get the pond scheduled soon since no rain is forecasted for the next week.
09/20/2022 · Flag

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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