| Billboards like this one are appearing throughout the lower Colorado River basin as part of a campaign against illegal dumping. |
 ocal, state and federal officials have launched an expanded public education campaign to encourage citizens to report illegal dumping throughout the lower Colorado River watershed.
The Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) and other project organizers recently began posting anti-dumping signs, making presentations at schools, and creating outdoor billboards, newspaper ads and radio spots. A toll-free number on billboards and other materials routes callers to county and municipal officials who will enforce dumping restrictions. The campaign is designed to reach people who might dump trash and those who are willing to report it. Another goal: Make sure polluters understand they may face jail time and stiff fines if they improperly dispose of materials. Along with LCRA, other partners in the campaign are Capital Area Council of Governments, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Matagorda County Environmental Health Department, Bay City Police Department and Matagorda County Crime Stoppers. TCEQ, using EPA funds, provided a grant of $212,000 for the anti-dumping effort, which covers much of Central Texas and counties along the lower Colorado River.
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Bill Edwards, Llano County
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Doug MacDougall, Travis County
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Steve Davis, Bastrop County
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David Cowan (LCRA), Matagorda County
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| Trail of trash: Illegal trash dumps in Llano (top), Travis (second from top), Bastrop (third) and Matagorda counties. |
What is illegal dumping?
Illegally dumped trash is often materials – such as furniture, auto parts and old appliances – that people discard to avoid either disposal fees or the time and effort required for proper disposal, said environmental enforcement experts. The problem is complicated because there are few, if any, landfills in some counties – particularly rural ones – or the landfills are 30, 40 or more miles away. (See brochure with list of landfills and transfer stations in the Capital Area Council of Governments territory.)
While regional and local officials say illegal dumping is a chronic problem, they also acknowledge that it is a difficult one to assess. Keith Helmers, CAPCOG's solid waste director, estimates there are thousands of illegal dumps in the organization's region, which covers 10 Central Texas counties. But it's impossible to say more precisely. To get a better handle on the problem, this winter LCRA plans to conduct an aerial survey to count the illegal dumps throughout the lower Colorado River basin, said David Cowan, senior aquatic scientist. This survey will be the first conducted since 1992, when a similar survey along the river found 400 illegal dumps. A number of those dumps were cleaned up through voluntary compliance and cleanup events sponsored by LCRA.
"In the current campaign, LCRA's role is to create a public awareness of the problem. And, if we can help facilitate a cleanup, we will," Cowan said. As a steward of the lower Colorado River, LCRA has been working with local communities and counties to address the problem of illegal dumping. The public awareness campaign is coming at a time that many local officials are making strong commitments to crack down on illegal dumping. Here is a snapshot of the enforcement efforts in four selected counties up and down the Colorado River basin.
Llano County
County Constable Bill Edwards estimates there are hundreds of illegal dump sites in Llano County. Most of the time, the county settles these cases by issuing a citation and getting a commitment from the offender to clean up the site.
Offenders in this largely rural county are often surprised to learn they could serve a year or more in jail and face a fine of several thousand dollars for illegally disposing of trash. If they agree to clean up the site, "I give them a citation and we have them pay $500 and clean it up," Edwards said.
"We definitely have a problem here," he said. "I could drive you around Kingsland and show you 30 illegal sites in an hour." Edwards said he began focusing on the problem when he was elected constable about three years ago. But the problem is daunting. Recently, Edwards said he trailed a truck laden with broken furniture and trash when traveling a country road. Unfortunately, he lost the truck on the back roads.
"No doubt they were going to be dumping it somewhere," he said. Travis County
In January, Travis County hired the first two investigators in its Environmental Crime Unit — employees who supplement a sheriff's deputy and a prosecutor assigned to illegal dumping cases. So far this year, the county has handled 193 alleged illegal dumping cases, said Doug MacDougall, Travis County environmental crime investigator.
Of those, 45 cases are either being prosecuted or have been resolved with convictions. Sixty-seven cases are still under investigation. Interestingly, not all of these cases are in Travis County. Ten cases are in other counties, including four in Burnet County. Travis County is unique among counties because the Texas Legislature has given the county jurisdiction to prosecute illegal dumping cases throughout the state under the Texas Water Code, the Texas Health and Safety Code and the Texas Clean Air Act.
To help pay for its illegal dumping crackdown, Travis County has received grants from CAPCOG to fund the purchase of video surveillance equipment, computers, a vehicle and other resources. "You're never going to get rid of it," MacDougall said of illegal dumping. "The best thing we can do is make people — especially children — aware. Kids are our conscience." Bastrop County
In 2000, Bastrop County created an environmental enforcement unit to investigate and prosecute illegal dumping.
Through Aug. 30 of this year, the county has handled 105 illegal dumping cases, issued 24 fines and cleaned up 57 sites through enforcement actions, said investigator Steve Davis. All told, 113,600 pounds of solid wastes have been cleaned up.
Bastrop, the state's eighth-fastest-growing county, suffers from a lot of construction-related debris, he said.
"The biggest problem I'm finding is contractors. A lot of it is contractors tear down a house and we'll find it in several areas of the county," Davis said. This trash ranges from old carpets to plumbing, tile and insulation.
"In order to make enforcement successful, in my opinion, these cases need to be prosecuted to the fullest," he said. "It has to be a joint effort and everyone has to pitch in to get it done. This is a statewide problem."
LCRA is sponsoring a household hazardous waste collection on Oct. 15 for Bastrop County residents. See the flier for details.
Matagorda County
This Gulf Coast county provides a good example of how joint efforts can make a difference. In September 2002, LCRA, the Matagorda County Environmental Health Department and the Bay City Police Department partnered to develop a public education and enforcement campaign aimed at reducing the illegal dumping along the Tres Palacios River, which is listed as an impaired body of water under the federal Clean Water Act.
Sgt. Bobby Rodriguez, with the Bay City Police Department and coordinator of Matagorda County Crime Stoppers, remembers seeing one of the illegal dump sites along the river strewn with furniture, appliances, old tires and other debris. "It almost looked like a landfill right along side of the water," Rodriguez said. "It was disheartening."
Since then, Rodriguez can count several local sites as having been cleaned up. Rodriguez also has made numerous presentations to schoolchildren about the problem of illegal dumping.
Enforcement has taken a variety of forms. In addition to facing jail time and fines, polluters in Matagorda County may be summoned to Ed Schulze's office for a lecture about the harm they have done to the area's water quality and the environment. During these "sessions," polluters often agree to a plea bargain that requires them to clean up their mess, said Schulze, director of environmental health for Matagorda County and former mayor of Palacios.
Cleaning up sites is critical to solving the problem, Schulze said. That's because if the site isn't cleaned up, others will continue to trash it.
"By the mere fact of cleaning it up we have reduced illegal dumping considerably," Schulze said.
Citizen involvement
The two-pronged effort — cleaning up sites and educating the public — works hand-in-hand. For example, earlier this year, a middle school in Matagorda County responded by adopting a section of the Tres Palacios River to clean up. (See Web page about Tidehaven Intermediate School's work.)
Alicia Reinmund, LCRA water quality supervisor, said this is the type of public involvement organizers hope to continue to attract.
"I think the awareness campaign is working," Reinmund said. "As people are aware of the trash in the creeks and trash in the river, there will be more of those efforts going on."
MacDougall of Travis County agreed.
"It heightens the awareness of the public, and anytime that happens we tend to get telephone calls we otherwise might not have gotten," he said.
For more information, see LCRA's Web site, Clean Water ... It Starts with You.
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