The water is being pumped out of the city now

[WilliamPitt]

...back into the ocean.

Petrochemicals, sewage, dead bodies, general filth, and now e. coli confirmed in the water.

Human disaster. Economic disaster. Now, environmental disaster.

On edit: The water must be removed, of course. But its condition adds to the scope of this thing.

[Teaser]

1. What else can we do, though?

Ain't got no choice to create an environmental disaster if we want the city back.

I can only imagine the dead zone this will create.

[Betsy Ross]

4. Send it to the WH? n/t

[Ladyhawk]

17. Too bad we can BEAM it there, a la the Scotty and the tribbles. n/t

[WilliamPitt]

5. Nothing.

That's the point. We have to do this.

[kick-ass-bob]

2. There's not much choice though.

:(

[Zynx]

3. How would you suggest we treat it?

[WilliamPitt]

7. The water has to be removed, of course

But its condition adds to the scope of this thing.

[tex-wyo-dem]

6. Every bit of this had been predicted by FEMA in the past...

as a worst case scenario...#2 in the list of the potenitally most dangerous U.S. disasters.

[Scout1071]

8. How sad. And preventable.

[tridim]

9. Last I saw they were pumping it back into the lake

Which is even worse.

[MaineDem]

10. This was happening yesterday

The Army Corps of Engineers guy was asked about the water. He referred everyone ot the EPA. He wouldn't elaborate but kept repeating the EPA, the EPA.

Remember, EPA standards were relaxed almost before aid was being sent to the area. I'm so glad priorities are in order for this gang. :eyes:

[whistle]

11. Pumped into where....Lake Ponchartrain and then from there to flow

...out into the Gulf of Mexico to kill that body of water and affect millions of people along the entire crescent coast both eastward and westward. Total lack of science and understanding by the Bush Administration.

[Zynx]

19. It's not a lack of science. There's no way to treat this much material.

[dogday]

20. That's what I am thinking

depending on the currents, it can also come to Texas....

[CatWoman]

12. I wasgoing to start a thread on this, but didn' t know which forum

to post it in: How do they go about cleaning up the contaminated water?

I'd eat fish out of the Potomac before I eat any from the Gulf/Ponchartrain :scared:

[in_cog_ni_to]

13. I'll never eat seafood again. I promise.

This is a disaster.

[tex-wyo-dem]

14. This is what happens when humans fuck with nature too much...

and elected officials choose to ignore warnings. You've got oil refineries and chemical plants all over the area, while at the same time destroying the wetlands in the Mississippi delta region that would normally act as a buffer to hurricanes. Add to that gross indiference to funding the saftey of the region to help protect against the very disaster predicted by FEMA years ago.

Enter Katrina...

Voila, worst case senario comes true.

This is terrible...

[Junkdrawer]

15. Expert on DemocracyNow friday said there's not enough money...

in the GNP of the U.S. to treat the water. All the more reason that the FEMA interference with efforts to repair the breach last Tuesday needs to be thoroughly examined.

[Zynx]

18. Repairing a levee while water is flowing in = impossible.

Quickly flowing water just bulldozes anything you put in front of it.

Levee can be fixed now because water has equalized.

[benddem]

16. I heard

that it was being pumped back into lake Pontchartrain which would mean of course it would go back into the ocean...but then there are two contaminated bodies of h2o. The whole thing makes me sick.

[DoYouEverWonder]

21. Remember when Saddam poured all the oil into the arabian sea?

It will be interesting to look at how that area recovered, in order to see what might work here to repair the damage to the Gulf. In the meantime I think I'll cut back on eating the fish I catch and forget about the scallops.