Kiss Lake Pontchartrain goodbye.....

[Bravo411]

So where is all this toxic floodwater from New Orleans going? Directly into Lake Pontchartrain. I just heard a report that it could kill all life in the lake and make its' way down to the Gulf of Mexico.

This is going to be one of the biggest environmental disasters in U.S. history. All because the federal government decided to cut funding for the levy system a few years ago.

http://bravo411.blogspot.com

[RockaFowler]

1. I thought the Same Thing

But, where else can they put the water?? It is a mess.

[rodeodance]

2. yes, and they had just opened it up to swimming a few years back. they

were making good progress on cleaning it up and now this.
This lake drains out into the coast line and oysters take up the minerals. Lots of years of enviromental and economic loss coming up.

[alarimer]

13. There will be no oysters harvested for years

This will put thousands more out of work and kill off whatever fisheries are left.

[astonamous]

3. And they just got it cleaned up a bit...

I'm no enviromental scientist, but I wish there was some kind of chemical they could put in the lake to counter act the the toxic waste. You know, like adding a tablespoon of bleach to a gallon of water to make it safe to drink.

Can you imagine the smell will be there for years?

[jody]

4. "imagine the smell"? Visit the Great Salt Lake in Utah and get an idea.

[astonamous]

16. It's a 10 minute drive from my house!

I was thinking the same thing when I was typing my last post. LOL!

[FloridaPat]

10. Hydrogen peroxide. That should work. Probably need more than

the country can make.

[achtung_circus]

5. Be very careful about eating shrimp.

Make sure they come from Vietnam rather than the Gulf.

[CrispyQ]

21. Go veg!

The entire food chain has been compromised by letting corporations use our rivers/oceans as free sewers for their vile spew. However, the animal sector has been compromised more so than the plant sector.

[shanti]

31. most comes from thailand now

n/t

[Botany]

6. they could filter the water and do some bioremediation

also they could hit with some ozone & Chlorine too.

the technology is there ...... it could be in place in less then a week.

[librechik]

8. hmmph--sounds like something a Democrat would do.

They will do it--but only after they figure how to make a profit off it.

[Teaser]

11. I've heard there are too many pumps

and not enough time. Waiting a week to pump out the water is that much more structural damage done to the buildings (tides, oxidation, etc).

If New Orleans is going to be saved, there isn't a lot of choice here.

Hell of an object lesson.

[Botany]

19. They could build a filter PDQ

3" limestone

.25" inch to 1.5" limestone

sand

with perforated PVC pipes in the sand into a chlorinator .....

and then into the lake ... that could be built in 1 day .....
many of them

construct the filters now! the water will be more concentrated w/ crap
the lower the level of flood water goes.

[achtung_circus]

22. Sorry to burst your bubble,

but the organophosphates and heavy metals wouldn't notice your filter.

[Botany]

25. no kidding ......

but it is better then nothing .....

put those filters on line ASAP and construct some artificial wetlands &
activated carbon filters down stream when the are ready to go ......

UV light might be of use too.

btw ..... some heavy metals fall out of solution when you raise the pH too

[BrklynLiberal]

7. Thermal depolymerization

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4643766

That thread has a lot of info and links to much more info about thermal depolymerization. Could have been the solution..may still be if someone has the will to do it.

[ewagner]

12. So how long

would it take to get a plant up and running? 2-3 years?

[FloridaPat]

17. Somehow turning 200 lbs of turkey into oil sounds like a real dumb

way to treat edible food. I will have to read the rest though. Interesting concept.

[melody]

9. Pennywise, pound foolish in action eom

[Bernardo de La Paz]

23. Your tax cuts at work

[starroute]

14. Any hope from those toxin-eating bacteria we keep hearing about?

I don't know if that stuff has gotten to the stage of real-world applicability, but it seems this would be a great time to put it to use.

[CascadeTide]

18. doesn't that have to be in a controlled environment?

The only applications I know of are in plants with holding tanks. Maybe it can work in the wild but I've never heard of it. This mess is a colossal monument to the short-sightedness of man....

[Eurobabe]

15. Well, guess SEAFOOD is off the menu

like forever.

[Mein Bush]

28. Sea-turds are on it!

How will turd blossum spin this?

[NNN0LHI]

20. If the earthen levee becomes saturated and starts to sag...

...from the water that is currently standing against it on the city side, pollution will be the least of our worries..

Don

[pretzel4gore]

24. question...did the busheviks realize this?

did they have any idea that playing games with the levees (not to mention education, health, transport, the space program, a trustworthy newsmedia ie unbiased pbs etc) could cause a chain of events which could impoverish, if not kill off, their own grandkids etc?
it's beyond mystery, beyond understanding....

[HannibalBarca]

27. The problem is...

..that not only do have particulate contamination, which could be filtered but you also have chemical and biological contamination. Devising a method which would remove the physical, biological (e.coli etc) and chemical would be very tricky and far beyond the capabilites of BushCo, i.e it would require foresight and intelligence.

[Lisa]

26. my friend in Alabama, who's got some guests from New Orleans ...

... went into a supermarket with one of them and bought some oysters. They looked at the dates and decided that this was the last batch to come out of there before Katrina hit. One of the people staying there is a retired oysterman. Tonight they'll have a "wake" for the sea life and the people who make their living from it, because they figure that the oysters, shrimp, etc. will not be edible for a long time.

It's kind of damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation, because the longer that water is left sitting around, the greater the chance it'll leach down into the city's groundwater. What a terrible choice to have to make.

[KC_25]

29. a few years ago?

This goes back to reagan...thru poppy and bill

[Dem2theMax]

30. Thank you. I've been thinking about this for days.

And wondering why no one in the media is saying anything about it.

edited for spelling. duh.