Illegal dumping plaguing Williamson County pct. 4

It's a problem plaguing Williamson County, trash and lots of it being dumped illegally.

Constables from precinct 4 say they are seeing a recent spike in the problem. They now get calls daily about the problem. Crews are hoping to dispose of the problem before it piles up.

When it comes battling illegal dumping in Williamson County, constable deputy Paul Leal is at the front lines.

"We've got game cameras that I deploy in place that get hit a lot," said Leal.

This trash comes in all shapes, sizes and even smells.

"I had to utilize (masks) because the smell was over whelming," said Leal.

When Leal arrives on scenes the first thing he does is document it and look for evidence. When it comes to who left the trash Leal is pretty good at sniffing out who did it.

"I have a very high success rate," he said.

In the state of Texas dumping trash illegally isn't cheap. It can range from a misdemeanor to even a felony. There are two ways for how they calculate the offense for illegal dumping, the first one being how much it weighs and the next is how big it is. What could be a fine of a couple hundred bucks could escalate pretty quickly.

"Anything over a thousand cubic square feet you get to a state jail felony," said Leal.

Right now the precinct 4 constables are focusing on the rising problem.

"I would believe that it would be safe to say that we have the highest volume mainly because of the geographic area," said Marty Ruble, precinct 4 constable.

They always try to work with whoever dumped the trash by pointing them where the actual dump sites are.

"Phone numbers for it, the hours of operation, things like that so there is no reason why they can't correct the problem," said Leal.

Leal hopes his efforts will help put a lid on a problem trashing his county.

If you live out in the county you can report illegal dumping to your local constable. If you live inside city limits you are urged to contact code enforcement.