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Taylorsville residents concerned after chemicals dumped in North Jordan Canal

Posted at 6:29 PM, May 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-19 20:29:38-04

TAYLORVILLE, Utah -- Imagine looking out your window to see someone dumping chemicals outside your home. That's what happened to residents in Taylorsville this week.

"I was in my apartment, and we smelled a really strong chemical smell just coming in from somewhere," said Courtney Ussery.

When Ussery walked out onto her balcony, she immediately started shooting video with her phone. Down below, a man was using a tube to pump hundreds of gallons of chemicals from his truck into the North Jordan Canal.

"It's a concern because there are families and kids that walk back here, there are hundreds of ducks and geese that live in the water," Ussery said.

It turns out the man dumping the chemicals works with the North Jordan Irrigation Company. They said the chemicals are used for weed control and don't pose any health risks to humans or wildlife.

However, Ussery says a warning would have been nice.

"I didn't know if it was a legit company or if it was just some random person, his truck had no company name on it, he didn't give me the company's name he was with," Ussery said.

The North Jordan Irrigation Company says fliers were posted along the canal 24 hours in advance, notifying people about the chemicals. Those fliers have since been removed.

Ussery says she never saw the fliers and believes, overall, the company could have been a lot more helpful.

"When I'm asking their workers, 'What is this chemical?' maybe give me some information: Don't act so shady about it if it's not something shady," Ussery said.