South Boston 'Snow Farm' Clings To Life As Pile Of Ice And Trash
BOSTON (CBS) – It's still dripping. A glacier of black ice embedded with trash sits in the South Boston lot that road crews called a "snow farm" a few months ago.
When WBZ-TV checked out the pile on a hot humid day in July, we found a baby stroller, lottery tickets, part of a bicycle, laundry baskets, and hubcaps. These items and much more were encased in ice slowly melting under the sun.
Weather Blog: Why The Snow Is Still There
"We knew there was going to be a lot of trash under that snow," said Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. "That's why we didn't throw one flake of snow in the ocean."
It's now a revealing look at Boston's trashy underside, hidden all winter under a clean blanket of snow.
Crews moved it by the ton from the city's streets to the snow farm, where after a record amount of snowfall, piles reached as high as 20 feet.
It may be best argument yet for not throwing snow into waterways. The state did give snow-buried cities and towns in Massachusetts permission to dump snow into the ocean, due to emergency situations.
Boston chose not to.
One clean water advocate predicts the snow pile will be around until August 1.
"Everything you see there was on the streets when the snows hit," said Bruce Berman of Save the Harbor Save the Bay. "None of it went into Boston Harbor, which is a terrific thing."
The city has invited the public to tweet predictions for how long the snow pile will take to melt using #BosMeltNow.
