Stop, Drop and Roll

07 January 2008 | Alameda Community | John Knox White

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-4125358435335146486&hl=en]

So I came home yesterday in the middle of one of the big rainstorms, to find the gutter on my block running white, as if a tanker truck of milk had overturned and the cow juice was running off down the street. During the course of my walk up and down the block to check it out (it was a slow, lazy day at casa de Knox White) I met a number of other neighbors, all equally concerned/interested/nosy. It was that stunning.

The gutters empty directly into San Leandro Bay, there was a large, unmistakeable white slick of paint in the bay. Birds swimming through it churned up a noticeable non-paint soaked wake.

Sounds like an environmental problem, right?

How about this story? A guy accidentally drops a five gallon bucket of white paint in his backyard. Not having any clue what to do, he figures it’s just five gallons and washes it into the gutters. It was an accident, no harm, no foul.

Ok, so obviously it’s the same story, told from two different points of view. I bring them up for two reasons, as the video below shows, five gallons of paint is rather a lot, once it’s diluted with water. This tale (to me) is one of how even little things can have a sizeable impact. I haven’t been back to see if the tides left a noticeable white right on the shore or plant life.

The cops were called and after determining that it was an accident, it sounds like no charges will be filed, no fines incurred, which after a little thought, seems fair enough, I think, I mean, mistakes happen. That said, if there’s clean-up necessary, then the person who dumped the paint will be responsible for the costs.

As this is the second such event in the last couple of months (See the Alameda Sun for an account). It would seem that either the city should consider starting to fine folks, or that a public information campaign might make sense to remind people that our city’s gutters are literally a directly pipeline to the Bay. Anything that gets rinsed into them, becomes a part of the eco-system. Perhaps Tidy-Cat could sponsor it?