As the UN Global Water Summit takes place, experts are taking a long hard look at one waterway that has become an environmental disaster zone. Dubbed “Trash River,” the water is now clogged with enough rubbish to make a landfill site look like a scrap of paper on a tidy desk.
Local resident, Billy Bob, who lives near the river, says he often fishes for his dinner in the river, but these days he just catches old tires, shopping carts, and discarded candy wrappers. “It’s not very appetizing,” he told reporters, “I mean, I do like a good tire sandwich, but they’re not as tasty as catfish.”
Experts say that the volume of rubbish in Trash River is so high that it has created its own flow, which is trapping more and more debris in its wake. “It’s like a never-ending rubbish tide,” says environmentalist Jane Smith. “We need to take action before it’s too late.”
One potential solution is to introduce some form of waste collection point, but officials say that funding for such a project is unlikely to be forthcoming. “I’d love to see a giant fishing net to catch all this stuff,” says Mayor John Doe, “but that’s not exactly in the budget. Maybe if we can get a sponsor, we could put a giant water filter here, and call it the ‘Aqua Tidier.'”
Trash River may be just one waterway, but it represents a global problem. The UN Global Water Summit is hoping to raise awareness about the impact of pollution on water sources worldwide. As for the residents of Trash River, they’re just hoping for a decent fish dinner again.
