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WEG Pollution

I knew WEG was a cluster f*ck, but that doesn’t mean they can pollute the entire surrounding area…

https://www.facebook.com/MountainTrue/posts/10156789918422533

Wow!! I am a bit sensitive to that topic right now because I live on the Gulf coast in Florida. And I would be glad if our only pollution problems would be like the Pollution from WEG but still this should be punished. If not it will continue…

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Mmmmmm. Not sure about the accuracy of this. After any heavy rain a creek is going to look like that.

Sure it could be from recent building in the park but it also could be normal drainage from a heavy rain.

I guess you could make the argument that humans have caused erosion.

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No, it should not. See Eventing folder, where this has already been posted, I won’t retype my reply other than to say that yes, this is a violation of NC water quality regulations & I work in aquatic resources in the state.

As education, the state turbidity standard for freshwater is <50 NTU for aquatic life & recreation, <10 NTU in designated Trout Waters. State law also requires all sediments must be controlled & contained on property during construction activities. A reading over 900 is appalling - when I was measuring Appalachian streams below unstabilized illegal slash logging roads with active erosion in grad school, our highest readings were around 450-500 NTU.

​​​​​​Citizens too can help monitor & protect our water supplies, your eyes are a huge help to us, as we are chronically understaffed & under funded. If you want to participate, check out the Muddy Water Watch citizen science initiative:
www.muddywaterwatch.com

​​​

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@wildlifer Thank you for clarifying that is indeed due to land and building mismanagement at the Park.

To clarify my post, I was unsure how much rain the area got and in what veracity it came.
I will find the post in the eventing forum. Thanks for letting me know it was there.

We once reported a neighbor for discharging his hog pits (not lagoons but actual pits into his creek. I mean lagoons would be bad enough but pits??? Somehow they found out it was us and got fairly threatening. We didn’t involve the police but were close. But I am sure their fine was significant.

We drag crap out of our creek all of the time?. What possesses people to throw trash or carcasses in a creek?

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I have no idea aside from laziness. You wouldn’t believe things we’ve found during surveys, from drug paraphernalia to guns to, erm, adult accessories. I even found a homemade 4’ sword which is in my office now . And of course the usual mix of trash including appliances, batteries, vehicle parts, odd shoes and millions of plastic bags & bottles. We pick up what we can, but it barely makes a dent…and that’s just the stuff you can see.

Thanks for standing up for your creek! :slight_smile: Aside from the obvious disgusting-ness, discharges like that can lead to serious consequences, like the recent Arizona lettuce contamination.

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This really isn’t a WEG problem - this is a Tryon Equestrian Center problem. The WEG has nothing to do with the construction pollution that is happening.

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We found an appliance truck. A good one from an appliance store not a cheap lite one. Pulled a couple of metal toolboxes last summer. We live close to town and the bridge is wide so I think people get a thrill. Weird.

When I saw that Bellissimo was going to Tryon, all I could think was glad I don’t live near there. His promises to bring prosperity were hollow. Vertical integration is his game and just like a casino, the idea is to keep all the $$$$$ in his purse. Now this… NO BUENO but so predictable.

Did you expect anything less?

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It was no surprise that Bellissimo won the bid, no surprise that the site was not ready in a timely way, no surprise that glaring unreadiness was visible everywhere, that more effort has been put into excuses and not the well-being of the horses and … and NO surprise that pollution abounds. These facts dog Bellissimo thru every major event he steals for himself to then stutter and stumble through. He really doesn’t seem to learn, and governing bodies don’t seem to learn either, as they continue to reward him with contracts.

Climate change is our most pressing global issue, and it will remain intractable as long as we excuse ourselves from holding ourselves and others accountable for the behavior that causes it. C. Change is death by a thousand cuts, and Bellissimo’s Tryon is one of those cuts.

Or we could talk about making the horses perform in the heat and humidity. When we stop using southern sites in the depth of the summer, lemme know.

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A creek is usually the lowest point in the local area, so any kind of trash left in the environment is eventually going to blow or wash into there if it can.

In our area, it’s common for people to camp along creeks (some homeless, some recreating) and they’re not always smart about their trash. If it’s in the vicinity it will get into the water.

In our area, a major storm will cause huge turbidity and sediment and also wash a lot of trash into the river, even if no one does anything stupid. Of course, it only takes one person doing something stupid. A big problem we’ve had in our area is illegal cannabis grows tend to do a lot of bulldozing without permits or consideration. I’m looking forward to legal status making this problem easier to regulate.

I don’t know whether TIEC took appropriate countermeasures to keep crap out of the streams or not. It’s plausible that they did and it was just overwhelmed by epic rain. It’s also possible that they were sloppy.

The measures often look like overkill and annoying and persnickety to someone unfamiliar with the problems or the power of water to create this kind of runoff, and it is easy for people to blow them off thinking it’s a stupid waste of time and resources. But in the end, it’s as much in our interest as horsemen to keep for example our arena footing in the arena as it is to the streams.

That was my thoughts with my original post. We weren’t given enough information As far as the pollution in ours, our creek originates from a stream on our neighbors land near no houses at all. The crap we find in it is dumped from our road.

https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2018/09/17/north-carolina-issues-orders-violation-tryon-equestrian-center/1336955002/

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