Anyone who has walked between the grass and the water in Port Huron knows the city has a goose problem.
OK, maybe it's not the geese but rather what they leave behind.
Pressured to find a solution, City Manager James Freed proposes to turn the fire hose on it. Again, not the geese — just what they leave behind.
Freed wants to use a retired firetruck to wash it away — and to have a little fun.
He said the truck will be transferred to the recreation department and parks workers will be trained to operate the operate the obsolete pumper. They'll be using it next week to tidy up riverfront areas for the Antique and Classic Boat Society's International Boat Show. The city has worked up brightly-colored “Poop Patrol” decals to affix to the 1992 pumper.
“Do I want people to chuckle when they see it?” Freed said. “Yes, that’s the whole point.”
Freed said the city could sell the old truck for about $5,000 — “little more than scrap value.”
Freed said he checked with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to make sure it is legal. It is as long as no good droppings end up in a river, lake or storm sewer.
In an email, MDEQ spokeswoman Tiffany Brown said, “The goose waste should be picked up; not washed anywhere, especially the catch basin as that would be an illicit discharge and not authorized under the city’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4).”
Parks and Recreation Director Nancy Winzer said she wasn’t sure of the process yet. She said areas to be cleaned up aren't only walkways. Kiefer Park, where the rec department has its Rockin’ the Rivers concerts, sometimes seems to have as much droppings as grass.
A retired 1992 pumper fire truck with mock-decals imposed on it. The city will produce the actual decals for goose "poop patrol" at a later date. (Photo: City of Port Huron/Submitted)
At the city marina, harbormaster Mike Davenport said it can be an unpleasant daily task breaking up dried droppings and “spraying it off into the grass.”
He said staff usually “do a pretty good job” keeping docks hosed off. As for boaters, he said, “Every marina these guys go to, there’s geese. They’re used to it.”
Resident Rachael Farquhar said it's an awesome idea. "I, myself, don’t mind the poo. It’s part of life by the water. But my kids hate it.”
Freed said, except for a hose, the pumper’s other gear — ladders, axes, etc. — has been removed and transferred to other trucks.
He said the fire department has turned its hoses on goose poop in the past but doesn't have time for such duty now.
“They’re just so busy and so short-staffed,” Freed said. “They used to have 56 officers. Now they have 30. They don’t have time.”
Freed said, “We just want to keep our community clean.”
Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.
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