Polluted Waters in the Heart of Mount Pleasant
posted 06/10/09
7:20 pm
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Mount Pleasant, SC -
Shem Creek is a staple of the waterfront community, but it’s now full of pollutants.
Much of Mount Pleasant actually drains into Shem Creek, from the roadways to resident yards to a crucial parking lot. The difference is that what’s coming off the lot, could be filtered; only its not.
"I don't have a problem with him catching the fish out of here, but I certainly wouldn't let him eat,” Jamie Holcombe said.
Jamie Holcombe is Captain of a fishing boat on Shem Creek. He's on the water everyday and says more could be done to clean it up.
"A lot of the places around here were built before standards were put in place," Holcombe said.
The K-Mart parking lot off of Bowman Road is one of those lots.
The lot is grandfathered in, meaning it doesn't have to meet storm water regulations because it was built before Mount Pleasant had any.
"It could be battery acid, hydraulic fluid…whatever ends up on this pavement….ends up in our creek, and we need to stop it," said Town Councilman Gary Santos.
Councilman Gary Santos wants to see a storm water system or retention pond installed---but he says the previous owner wasn't interested.
"This is the single most spot in my opinion….on the creek that continues to put pollutants in the water," Santos said.
Town storm water officials say if the land is redeveloped, it will have to meet new clean water standards
That may soon happen.
The land has been sold to Transwestern, a company out of Chicago.
Meanwhile, the pollution is going nowhere. Storm water officials say a recent study shows pollutants that enter the creek near highway 17 take nearly 39 days to flush out into the harbor.
ABC News 4 attempted to reach the new owner, but our calls were not returned immediately.
Testing has been done on the creek near the Shem Creek Bridge.
Storm water officials say those results showed human waste in the water.
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