Just what are we drinking?
I keep hearing statistics...and I think they are begining to sink in (pardon the pun).
50% of the Pesticides used on lawns end up in our drinking water.
I was driving around St. Catharines last month looking for a new dive site and found signs on a beach warning against using the beach because of high bacteria content of the water.
Beaches for looking at - not for swimming - because they are too poluted by partially treated sewage.
Yes sewage treatment plants sometimes only partially treat the sewage! Each municipality has a standard water quality which they deem acceptable when releasing processing sewage. http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/wwvisit.html
A couple of years ago I was ice diving in Lake Simcoe, in front of the Barrie sewage treatment plant. As we passed by the outlets from the plant; the water coming out was brown with small debris in it. That was an eye openner for me. I had always thought they completely cleaned the water, removed all solids and geez ... maybe there was a magic fairy who waved her wand over it??? Not so.
I have been taking the low visibility of the water in Lake Ontario and Erie for granted - that's just the way the water is!? Well guess what - Water is supposed to be CLEAR!!!! Just like in Hawaii, or the Bahamas. Just like the water in Lake Huron around Tobermory is clear.
Why is the water so murky? Industial and human waste products dumped and pumped into the lakes... and we are taking it for granted.
Sing praise for the humble zebra mussel for filtering the water to the point that we can see up to 60 feet under water - as little as 10 years ago you could only see 3-5 feet.
Is this OK with you? or are you drinking bottled water?
We have made advancements in medicine to enable us to live much longer and productive lives, instead, thanks mostly to industrial pollutants, one in how many will develop cancer?
Listening to a show on CBC Radio this week http://www.cbc.ca/north/story/nor-chip-health-concern.html about Fort Chipewyan in Alberta; a tiny town on the northern shores of Lake Athabaska, the water in a small local river used to run clear... then Uranium mining, pulp and paper and a hydro dam destroyed the environment - the wild life is gone - the fish have major deformities. In a town of 1200 one in 3 will die prematurely of cancer.
Water Filtration plants - they clean the water we drink? Pull water from deep in the lake far far away from the sewage plant outlets.... depends on where you live, and not likely is the answer.
The water filtration process pulls water through a series of screenings, removing sediments, and then treating it to kill bacteria... http://shoalwater.nsw.gov.au/4education/wtplnts.htm
This still leaves chemicals disolved in the water like pharmaceuticals http://www.newstarget.com/003441.html
It's one thing to think about, and that certainly is a begining, but here's the kicker - What can we do about it?
Here's a place where "action" happens http://www.ijc.org/en/home/main_accueil.htm - slowly, and here are groups who help put voices together to motivate faster action:
Great Lakes United http://www.glu.org/
Pollution Probe http://www.pollutionprobe.org/
Sierra Club http://www.sierraclub.ca/
So next time you think about pouring yourself a glass of tap water - think about it... again.
posted by Chris Red at 8:14 PM
3 Comments:
Our water in the Great Lakes has many pollution problems.
The water we drink is also where we dump partial treated sewage from municiple sewage treatment plants especially after heavy rain fall; or when in some places a government fails to protect the public specifically in Walkerton.
There is also run off from farmers fields, golf coarses, and home lawns where pesticides are spread and sprawed to kill weeds and maintain the green esthetic.
The commercial shipping industry contributes pollution from dumping sewage overboard and exotic species in their bilge tanks.
The private boat business seasonally contributes oil discharges from boatr engines and jet skis.
Run off from streets drain directly into our lakes and carry oils and paints that are dumped carelessly on the roads or down sewers. Some of these paints and fuels contain cancer casusing agents.
Mercury from coal burning travels by air in smoke and ends up in the water as do other chemicals in smoke from industry stacks and fires in yards and burning structures. The modern home is chocked full of hazardous chemicals that can cause cancer from direct exposure to the skin, ingestion or by breathing in smoke in house, industrial fires, or automobile fires.
Medical waste also is ending up in the lakes in the form of improper disposable of hyperdermic needels. The body fluids in these injection systems are hazardous.
All of these forms of pollution are suspect for causing disease.
The largest problem is the cost of rebuilding municiple sewage treatment plants across North America. But this must happen sooner than later. These structures are aging and require major improvements.
Also the mentality that produces these forms of pollution is entrenched as are we to wanting everything instantly or carted away or dumped into water and not mentioned as if it disappears by magic.
Very Valid Points!
Over the winter we had an old container with varsol (paint thinner) crack in the garage, what a Stick - we were stuck with it - could not pour it down the drain.
Transferred the item to a larger plastic pail with a sealable lid - and waiting to take it to the local dump for hazardous waste disposal.
It can be so easy to dispose of items like this, or ordinary housefold hazardous items like batteries, instead of complying with new municiple regulations.
For more info on the lakes waters please check out this web site
www.bnriverkeeper.org
They have an office on Niagara Street in Buffalo and do a lot to test and clean up the lakes and water ways
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