WILLIAMSVILLE — I need to speak up about the obvious negligence in regard to human waste on the part of the state or whatever towns are responsible for the hugely popular swimming holes on the Rock River and West River.
We have wickedly hot days that drive people to use these natural assets, then voluminous rainstorms flush them out repeatedly. I have spoken with people who have gotten waste on their bodies while frequenting this riparian zone.
Even if the tests that are done on the West River do not indicate an E.coli problem resulting from this heavy use, how about the fact of common sense observance that, on a hot day many cars line Route 30?
I've counted a line of 120 cars and have seen longer lines than that one. That would easily have to average out to 100 to 150 people in those areas, multiplied by however many sunny summer days. I conservatively estimate 6,000 users in a summer. That waste is going somewhere!
I'm sure that there are laws stating that if people produce some kind of public event that they are required to provide a certain number of portable toilets per 100 people. If this were a lake experiencing this concentrated amount of use, there would be a facility.
I am only suggesting that the responsible entity provide portable toilets down by the intersection of the roads, which is a somewhat small budget item to address an obvious issue.
The state has a reputation for being environmentally clean and doing the right thing. Someone needs to step up to the plate here.