The Bayou Runs Orange

  Years ago after Hurricane Katrina washed huge ruts in our hillside, we were told that refilling them was a no-go.  "Any fill dirt would only wash down into the Bayou and Bay.  It would pollute the area and be detrimental to wildlife."  All fill dirt had to be kept "1000" feet from the marsh edge to assure that we would not muddy up the Bay.  Sounded rather stupid, if you ask me.  So, we had to find other means to level the ruts left by debris and tidal surge.  It was hard but Mark scraped things level with the tractor and I moved dirt around with a bucket and shovel. Finally. we succeeded in getting the hillside somewhat even and after the grass grew over the spots, no one was the wiser.  

  Now comes a problem.  With all of the torrential rainstorms that we have had lately, runoff from nearby construction sites is filling the Bayou and spilling out into the Bay with each change of tide.  Today when I meandered down to the pier between rains, I could see a vast splotch of orange water rushing out of the Bayou.  This coloring was from the red clay that was hauled into a site across the way.  New houses are being built and red clay seems to be the foundation of choice on which to pour a concrete slab.  Dump trucks haul the mountains of clay to the homesite and there it sits while homeowners wait on the construction crews to build their house. The crews are waylaid by the rains but, in the meantime, the rains wait on no one.  The downpours pelt the mounds of clay and eat away at the mountains.  The runoff spills down the hillside and into my Bayou.  My Bayou runs orange.

  All of this is in the name of progress.  While I do not begrudge anyone the right to build a home, I do find it strange that this runoff is not considered "pollution" if my meager fill dirt was.  Soon my Bayou will be nothing more than a bog.  The red clay is fast filling the low spots and making the water flow less and less.  Beyond the road where the creek that feeds the Bayou originates, things have vastly changed and not for the better.  The flowing creek has been filled to make space for more houses. That creek is nothing more than a small trickle now compared to what it was when I was a kid.  Soon, my critters will have to find new homes....and perhaps I will have to do the same.  Sad.