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Wilkes-Barre Cleans Up Spring Run Creek

WILKES-BARRE — A creek in Luzerne County has been collecting debris for the last year, causing it to stink up the neighborhood, but now help is coming to ...
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WILKES-BARRE -- A creek in Luzerne County has been collecting debris for the last year, causing it to stink up the neighborhood, but now help is coming to clean up the creek.

People who live along Moyallen Street in Wilkes-Barre are finally breathing a sigh of relief--and some fresh air--after city officials sent crews Wednesday to clean Spring Run Creek. It comes after a report shows that if left untreated, the creek could overflow.

Neighbors have been  complaining about a foul odor coming from the creek. Some people say it smells like raw sewage.

“It's stinky! It's real, real stinky!” said Josie Johnson, whose sister lives on Moyallen Street.  She's seen the creek overflow and flood her sister's house.

“You never get that smell out of your basement, once you get in there, it's nasty. How do you even get it out?” she said.

City officials began cleaning the creek after inspecting a nearby bridge that runs over the creek. The inspection showed there was so much trash near the bridge that it made the creek prone to flooding.

“There was a significant amount of debris that had built up under the bridge and we needed to get that out of there,” said Butch Fratti, Wilkes-Barre’s Director of Operations.

With now being the time of the year that tropical storms can impact our area, neighbors say now is the time to clean out the creek.

“Finally, Wilkes-Barre’s stepping up to the plate and doing something they should be doing,” Johnson said.

Wilkes-Barre has five creeks, and officials say they try cleaning each one every year.

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