Update: City crew finds painting crews in Weracoba paint spill area, but they deny polluting

I spoke to Michael Burgess, stormwater programs manager for the city, Tuesday morning. He’s the guy I sent pictures to yesterday afternoon when our Concerned Reader Ted notified me that the pollution was back in Weracoba Creek.

Burgess said as soon as he got the pictures, he went over to Weracoba Creek immediately, but by that time it was raining.

“Water was shooting out of that pipe by then,” Burgess said. So the pollutants had washed away.

But he said he is almost certain what was shown in the pictures was white latex paint. (He’s seen it many times before.) And he and his crew will be out in the area today, looking for potential miscreants who don’t have enough sense to properly dispose of paint.

“It’s frustrating,” Burgess said.

He called back at about 11 a.m. and said he and his crew canvassed the area and found two painting contractors working there.

“Of course, both of them said they would never even think of (dumping paint into a storm drain,” Burgess said. “But we gave them the public service talk about the proper way to dispose of paint, anyway.

“So hopefully, it will never happen again … but we’ll see.”

As always, stay tuned.

You can see Monday’s original Inquirer column here.

This story was originally published December 6, 2016 at 11:30 AM with the headline "Update: City crew finds painting crews in Weracoba paint spill area, but they deny polluting."