The Bays of Baytown

The Bays of Baytown are the most symbolic thing in baytown, in my opinion. When you cross the Fred Hartmann bridge to Pasadena or Interstate 10 to Houston, you subconsciously cross over the bays. There are two main bays that are near Baytown. The first is Black Duck Bay and Tabbs Bay. Both are on either side of the Fred Hartmann Bridge. 

The bay's water is not as clear as most other water sources throughout the state. The bays are so dark due to the mix of water from the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. This water shown in this bottle is taken only a mile from Lee College and is from Tabbs Bay. 

This water is so unhealthy for the people here in Baytown. The residence here sometimes do. It understand that eating wildlife out of these waters is a health hazard for them as well as many children and the elderly. In Black Duck Bay, it is so close to the Exxon Mobil chemical refinery that how do the residence of Baytown, that fish there and allow their children to jump off of their dock into the bay for some water fun know that there is anything in the water that could hurt them? We never know if there was or is anything in the water that has leaked out and into the waters. In Tabbs Bay, you see many fisherman on the fishing dock near the Fred Hartmann bridge or even men fishing from the Perry Simons Bridge at all hours of the night. I interviewed a woman of twenty years of age who as a teen would jump off the railroad tracks by Lee High School into the bay during the summers with her friends. One time that she did jump off of the railroad track into the water she had contacts in her eyes, that same night she fell asleep with her contacts in and now, around two to three years later, she has scars on her eyes. These bays are yes part of our culture living in a town off of the Texas coast but just because the bays do have fish doesn't mean they are safe to eat.