Skull Creek pollution can impact area in many ways

With my knowledge as a Texas 4-H Water Ambassador and what I learned last summer, putting waste in the ground can be very harmful and potentially seep directly into our groundwater.

After reading the articles in The Colorado County Citizen, I have realized the Skull Creek incident isn’t just a polluted stream flowing into a river. At the Inland Facility, they have been filing old gravel pit holes with soil which is soaked with oil and chemicals.

It is just sad to know it has gone on this long with no solution. The list of chemicals that have been discovered in the testing of the water can greatly harm groundwater in the area. Rice High School, businesses and homes are nearby and this pollution in the water could affect their water wells.

Being a Water Ambassador in a large water use community, I know how this can affect our area. As of now, reports say that the contamination should not affect crops. But the real question is what will it do in the long term to rice or any other crop. Whether watered by river water or well water, how can a crop be organic with contaminated water?

A lot of people fish the river, my friends and I enjoy being on the river every chance we get.

Are the fish really safe to eat while this contamination has been in the river? Some say yes, but do we really know?

We do know this pollution has already had an effect on the whole environment of Skull Creek, from tiny organisms to the fish.

What will happen to the scavengers that have eaten the dead fish?

It’s upsetting to think of how this long-term spill will affect Skull Creek, our ground water and the Colorado River downstream.

Rowdy Kunz is the 4-H Water Ambassador for Colorado County, and is a freshman at Rice Consolidated High School. He is the son of Mike and Katie Kunz.