Nearmy house is a beautiful river - the Brandywine. It is becoming less beautifuleach day, though, and that bothers me. Almost every time it rains, raw sewageoverflows into the Brandywine. People use it as a dumping ground, yet childrenswim there in the summertime, despite warning signs. This really upsets me, andI'd like to do something to resolve the matter.

The raw sewage seepinginto the river bothers me the most. The city has an outdated sewer system thatlets untreated sewage mix with storm runoff and flow into the Brandywine. When itrains enough to exceed the treatment plant's capacity (sometimes 1/10 of an inchis enough to do it), more sewage overflows into the river.

Why do somepeople think the river was put there for them to dump things in? Whenever I bikeby with friends, we see old furniture and other junk near it. It really makes memad that people don't take things to the dump, where they belong. I wish theywould open their eyes and see how they are ruining a beautiful river.

Thewater is dirty and could contain disease-causing germs. While it still looksinviting on a hot summer day, parents and children need to pay attention to thesigns warning people to stay out. This is becoming more of a problem because theriverfront is being developed to attract tourists. But, if tourists don't knowabout the dangers of swimming in the water, they could get very ill.

The City of Wilmington should do more to clean up the Brandywine River. Lots ofmoney is spent to attract tourists to the riverfront, but it smells like a sewer.I don't know about you, but walking along the banks of a smelly river is not myidea of fun. Neither is walking along a river and coming across an old chair or arusted filing cabinet. It may be expensive to clean up the Brandywine, but itwill be worth it in the long run.