Citizen complaint of the day: Mystery things floating down Mother Brook

By adamg on Fri, 04/26/2019 - 9:12pm

A concerned citizen files a 311 complaint about the stuff floating down the Mother Brook in Hyde Park today:

Construction debris floating down Mother Brook. Most likely from construction in Dedham.

Neighborhoods:

Hyde Park

Free tagging:

311

Mother Brook

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Comments

Complainting a lodge?

By SwirlyGrrl on Sat, 04/27/2019 - 8:56am.

Not exactly sure what I'm looking at here, BUT:
1. that looks like beaver architecture on the mid-lower right
2. the white puffs may be from runoff from sources of things that add detergent and oils (car washing, septic tanks, construction site runoff etc.) - I can't fully see what they are in the photo.

Is there more in the river that I'm supposed to be seeing? When the rivers are so consistently floody, there is always debris from centuries of loose land use going into our waterways. People have been dumping crap for centuries, old building materials get washed in, etc. Oh, and trees just fall in once their roots are flooded and undermined.

Upstream construction

By capecoddah on Sat, 04/27/2019 - 10:03pm.

A lot of office parks and businesses back up to Charles/Mother Brook. A windy day can take a lot of Styrofoam out of construction and regular dumpsters. Construction "debris" other than styrofoam would not make it too far.

Also

By Waquiot on Sun, 04/28/2019 - 3:40pm.

They are literally working along the shore of the Brook, up by Dedham Parkway.

I will also note that the photo is probably not quite the best representation of the stuff moving downstream. Still, debris has been floating that way for centuries, so things will probably work themselves out.

Nothing to see here.

By chaosjake on Wed, 05/01/2019 - 12:59pm.

The beaver lodge pictured here is on the bank of the Mother Brook adjacent to Fairview Cemetery.
Recent rain storms have caused high water, which in turn causes vigorous aeration at the two dams just upstream from this spot. Aerated water forms foam (sometimes due to pollutants, but usually due to natural surfacants from decomposing plant matter) that floats downstream in large white clumps that look like styrofoam from a distance. That's all this is.