Austin to study impact of litter, scooter dumping in waterways

Hundreds of scooters are being dumped in Austin’s waterways.

City staff is hoping to embark on a comprehensive study to gauge the effects of the rented, dockless vehicles, and other litter, on creeks, lakes and rivers throughout Austin.

Austin Watershed officials told City Council members Thursday the study could cost approximately $500,000 and take up to a year to complete — a price tag and timeline that surprised some council members before their unanimous vote of approval.

Council Member Paige Ellis, who sponsored a resolution calling for the study along with Council Members Natasha Harper-Madison and Greg Casar and Mayor Steve Adler, initially hoped the study could be completed by June. But with no funding identified in the 2020 budget, that goal was quickly dashed. Instead, the council approved an amended resolution calling for the city manager to outline the cost and parameters of the study by late February, and whether partial funding could be allocated from the 2020 budget.

Figures from the Austin Watershed Protection Department showed the agency’s Spill Response team responded to 56 reports of mobility devices in waterways since September 2018.

The department’s Waller Creek Tunnel Program also removed 342 devices from Waller Creek in 2019.

Austin has licensed 15,250 scooters to operate in the city across six companies: Bird, JUMP, Lyft, OjO, Spin and Lime.

“Protecting the environment is critically important to Lime and we're committed to continue working with the city and our partners to educate the community about the harmful impact of vandalizing scooters and polluting the environment," Lime said in a statement Thursday.

Council members questioned whether fines for those who throw scooters into waterways could help fund the study or whether the city could request micro-mobility companies to chip in themselves.

Austin Transportation Director Robert Spillar said each time a scooter is reported in the water, city officials notify the company that owns the device and gives them 24 hours to pick it up. If they don’t, the city can impound the scooter.

“We had good response from the scooter companies. I know that at least one of them reports that they've already spent well over $100,000 retrieving scooters when they need to,” Spillar said.

While much of Thursday’s conversation revolved around scooters, Council Member Ann Kitchen said the resolution is far more comprehensive and important to understand pollution in Austin’s waterways. Council members said city staff should also consider how the Texas Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Austin’s ban on plastic bags has contributed to litter.

“This is not a scooter resolution,” Kitchen said. “That's an important part of it, but I see it as a much broader issue, and that relates to plastics and a whole range of other kinds of litter that we might see in our watershed.”

Council Member Sabino “Pio” Renteria said litter in waterways is reaching a crisis level, especially in areas where debris from camp sites slides into creeks.

“There are all these campsites down there that when we run them off the streets, the homeless, they go into our creeks and watersheds and parks where they can hide, and they are polluting and trashing out our (waterways), and that's a fact. So we need to look into that,” Renteria said.

While council members agreed the larger polluting factors to Austin waterways should not be overshadowed by scooter dumping, the issue still drew consistent criticism from the council.

“My office receives lots of calls about scooters in creeks and other issues impacting our creeks,” Council Member Kathie Tovo said. “Sometimes we hear reports that people are upset about scooters, or they’re upset about where they are parking and pushing them into the creek. Please don’t do that. You impact everyone, you impact our water quality when you do that.“

Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison had harsher words.

“For the love of Pete, act your age,” she said. “People, don't go throwing scooters into the dang creek.”