Image by Charleston Waterkeeper
The battle to remove abandoned, rotting, and polluting boats from the waters around Charleston is continuing as officials look to remove some 15 crafts from the Ashley River alone.
This week community leaders were proud to scratch one of those boats off the list.
One boat has sat at one of the main entrz points to the peninsula for years, partly blocking it and it seemed it would continue to do so as only half of a needed $13,000 dollars was being raised — but an outpouring in community support changed that.
The Post and Courier has a solid report on the couldn't-come-soon-enough demise of The Runaway; read it here.
Depending on the state and condition of the boat, it can easily cost more than $5,000 to remove and dispose of it. As these abandoned boats decay, they provide seen and unseen navigational hazards while they leech harmful toxins into our prized waterways.
An effort to map the abandoned boats is spearheaded by Charleston Waterkeeper — you can see the location of many abandoned boats on this online map. The Charleston-area's problem is potent enough to compel The New York Times to use local imagery when they did a story on the issue.
- Read more stories on this subject in our abandoned boats topic page.
