My creek turned brown in 8 summers, neighbors blame the new housing tract upstream

I've fished this same bend near Bloomington since 2015, and the water clarity has gone from seeing the bottom at 4 feet deep to barely 6 inches now. Some folks say it's just storm runoff, but my cousin who does soil surveys thinks the 300 new houses built since 2019 are washing sediment straight in. Is this just my anxiety about small changes adding up, or have others watched a familiar spot degrade this fast and feel like it's a warning sign for everything else?

2 comments

2 Comments

jade5171mo ago

Watch the parking lots at any mall or Target. They're all blacktop and drain straight into storm sewers. Every rain sends oil, brake dust, and trash right into the same creeks. I've seen the same muddy water after a half inch of rain near my own local spot. The houses up there probably dug out all the trees and roots that held the soil together. That's not anxiety, that's just math. We keep paving over everything and then act surprised when the water turns to chocolate milk.

robin6281mo agoTop Commenter

Exactly, @jade517, and the storm drains all just dump into the same ditches.