Neighbors want mess cleaned up

HAGERMAN -- A horde of bugs, a serious stench and a ruined view – after a giant mass of muck moved into one southwest Idaho neighborhood.

All of this after a mass of muck moved into the neighborhood. 

The ugly, smelly mess has grown on the Snake River along some riverside properties in Hagerman.  

One couple who lives in the area say it's hard to take. 

Last year a similar but much smaller mass moved in.  Then it was just a thin layer of goo on the surface – and eventually washed downstream.

Photos of the gross muck

This year the field has grown to much larger proportions.  It's thick and it keeps getting bigger.

Sallie Scott and P.J. Byrne rented a home along the Snake River in Hagerman for its access to the water and pretty view.

“I wanted to be on the river, use my boat.  I love the water," Byrne said

"I wanted to retire on the river," Scott said.

But then the green mess moved into the neighborhood and ruined the slice of paradise.

The thickly coiled mass of muck backs up from the Highway 30 bridge.  It's filled with logs and sticks, bottles and cans and dead and decaying plants.

“A landfill smells better than this at night,” Bryne said. “It really does.  I'd rather be near a landfill than this at night.”

The mess is getting bigger by the day.

From a distance, the muck looks bad – but when you look up close, you see the green gunk is filled with bugs – lots of them.

"They're horrible,” Scott said. “I have them every day in my house when I wake up in the morning.  We have to leave all the lights out because it attracts them even more.”

"It scares me for the older people on this island,” Bryne said. “West Nile virus is something you gotta worry about out here."

The flow of the river is not strong enough here to move this mass out. P.J. and Sallie hope someone else can provide the muscle. 

"Somebody (needs to) come out here and remove this so these people can enjoy their backyards,” Scott said.

Bill Allred of the Department of Environmental Quality said officials definitely understand the concerns. They checked out the problem late last week, and are now looking at their options for dealing with the mass of muck.  

That includes figuring out who has jurisdiction to act on it.