PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Residents in Palm Harbor say storm water runoff is ruining their waterfront lifestyles, and they're tired of it.
“We love the sunshine. We love the weather and we love the water,” said Baywood Village homeowner Bryan Nartowicz.
Florida living brought Bryan Nartowicz from Colorado to Palm Harbor.
“We got a storm rain right here and when it rains, it washes out all this nasty stuff,” he explained. “We’ve got grass cuttings and trash and toys. It’s just, it’s non-stop,” he said.
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Trash, grass clippings and plastic pours out of this storm water drain clogging his canal in Baywood Village off Westwinds Drive.
“All the silt builds up and you can almost walk across from here to there on a low tide,” said Nartowicz.
There's so much sediment, he can't start his boat or jet ski. His next door neighbor is high and dry too.
“I’m close to retirement and I’d like to spend more time on the water,” said Dave Brown
Brown says the sediment buildup has gotten worse over the past two years.
“It’d be nice if they could figure out where that’s coming from and get it taken care of,” he said.
We alerted Pinellas County to their problem and storm water officials say they've created a work order to investigate.
“It accumulates more and more every rain storm,” said Nartowicz.
The county is also reminding neighbors not to dump anything into their storm water drains, including yard waste.
“It makes me upset because you buy a piece of property and you can’t use it the way you want to,” said Nartowicz.
