Brush Creek Fights Back!

I took this shot yesterday. It's the corner of Wornall by the Fairmont. This little pond was obviously caused by a clogged stormwater inlet but it made me think how long we would have ignored our sewer system if Brush Creek could somehow have refused to take our raw sewage. I think a little sewage in the streets of the Plaza may have actually caused our leadership to take notice. We've known about this problem for years. The federal Clean Water Act has been around in one form or another since 1972! The whole time we were working on the Brush Creek beautification project we still ignored the raw sewage outlets. I remember Ollie Gates, the chairman of the Parks Commissioners at the time stood by the recently completed Brush Creek project and gave his "don't drink the water" speech while then Mayor Cleaver and some of our representatives looked on. The rationale at the time was the sewer system could not be fixed because we didn't have the money. Mr. Gates saw no problem with the sewage. His advice was not to swim in the creek or drink the water. Gee thanks for that nugget of wisdom. So we couldn't fix things back then because we didn't have the money. So we have the money now? No we don't. But the EPA will make us find the money. It's just a matter of when. This brings me to tomorrow's installation of the KC Political Phrase Book. Something you'll be hearing council and mayoral candidates be using in reference to our sewer troubles. The phrase will be, "I've been fighting for that for years!"