MEMPHIS, Tenn. — What should have been a fun time boating or soaking up some sun on McKellar Lake was ruined for many because of mountains of garbage that’s floating in the water and scattered nearby.
“A lot of people come down here. They think it looks like a garbage dump on the water, because you got so much trash accumulating,”
Michael Tackett, co-owner of Riverside Park Marina, says the lake is an eye sore.
“Even I myself live here. Everyday when I come out to see it, I’m like oh my God this is terrible,” Tackett said.
You won’t believe what’s floating in the water.
“I find more basketballs and footballs than anything I’ve ever seen. We find bottles, cans, barrels and luggage too. We find all kinds of things in the water,” Tackett said.
McKellar Lake has seen its share of problems.
Just two years ago, extremely high levels of E. Coli was found in the lake after a sewer line broke and millions of gallons of sewage leaked out.
We reached out to the city to see who’s responsible for the trash.
They told us McKellar Lake is a state lake and they’re not responsible, but they help with the clean up process.
They sent us this statement saying:
The city proactively has placed floating booms that collect trash in the lake. During heavy rains, trash flows in storm water that carries litter flows from street inlets through the drainage system and discharges into local creeks and rivers and eventually into McKellar Lake or the Mississippi River.
“When the water raises it would be good to see them more active on the water, because this is the time where you get the most amount of trash,” Tackett said.
We were told City Beautiful, a non-profit organization, volunteers to clean up the lake.
But again, the city is reminding everyone not to litter in storm drains, because that trash eventually empties into McKellar Lake and the Mississippi River.