ADEQ director brings illegal dumping to forefront
As many volunteers who have spent hours cleaning up someone else's trash on public lands can attest, illegal dumping is a serious and ongoing problem in Yuma County.
But it's not a problem limited to Yuma, said Steve Owens, director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.
"We've seen it all across the state," he said during a phone interview Monday with The Sun. It's a challenge local leaders around Arizona have been struggling with. Now state officials are weighing in on an effort to help find solutions.
To that end, Owens will lead an illegal dumping forum in Yuma from 9 a.m. to noon Friday at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Yuma Office and Yuma Desalting Plant, 7301 Calle Agua Salada.
Owens will present an overview of the problem, then turn the podium over to a series of speakers who have been fighting illegal dumping.
Speakers will include Jack Simes, USBR employee who has led cleanup efforts in Yuma; Steve Maulk of Yavapai County, who will discuss expedited enforcement; Bill Thornton of Maricopa County, who will talk about illegal dumping abatement there; Fernando Shipley of Globe, who will discuss "How to think your way out of an unsolvable problem"; and Frank Zadroga, whose topic is "Discussion of a strategy for cleanup of undocumented migration waste in the Arizona-Sonora border region."
The forum is being held to bring together officials from ADEQ, USBR, the city of Yuma and Yuma County to identify local issues and to share ideas with others from around the state.
The public is welcome to attend the seminar and offer comments. To register, call Charlene Fernandez, ADEQ's community liaison in Yuma, at 373-9432 or Mark Shaffer, ADEQ's communications director, at 1-800-234-5677, before noon Thursday.
Illegal dumping not only is ugly, it also creates "a host of environmental and health problems," Owens said. Illegally disposed of trash may contain chemicals and materials that can leach into the soil and groundwater, causing contamination.
Debris can block canals, culverts and drainage basins. Discarded tires become breeding places for rodents and mosquitoes. Discarded needles, drugs and personal care products can pose a risk to human health.
State law already outlaws illegal dumping, but a bill making its way through the Legislature would increase the penalties for violators. HB 2493 would add fines of at least $500 for misdemeanor dumping and at least $1,000 for felony dumping. It also would hold violators responsible for cleaning up their trash.
"There's been a lot of support for it," Owens said of the bill, encouraged that state lawmakers apparently recognize illegal dumping is a statewide problem and needs to be addressed.
---
Joyce Lobeck can be reached at jlobeck@yumasun.com or 539-6853.
