NOLA: when the water is pumped off and the sediments settle...

[thecrow]

Won't this make for a MUCH MUCH MORE toxic sludge on the ground?
How will they clean it up?
I see guys walking around there in waders now with gloves on, etc.
How bad can it get?

[babylonsister]

1. First, the bloated bodies causing much of the contamination

will need to be removed. And that could be in the 1,000's.

[Lerkfish]

2. easier to clean up sludge on the ground than sludge in chest high water

I'm just sayin.

[Green Mountain Dem]

3. Well even if...

they do get it cleaned up..what about the Lake that they are pumping all this untreated waste water into?? How will they clean that up?
This just gets worser and worser

[phantom power]

4. You know what they say... Dilution is the Solution to Pollution!

[NNadir]

6. Except when the solution to pollution is concentration...

...as in bioremediating micro-organisms that gather up heavy metals. There are some.

New Orleans, I think, is fucked in ways we can't even begin to imagine.

[Grey]

5. Speaking of that Lake..........

Where do they get the drinking water for the city?

[htuttle]

7. If it were anywhere else...

...the EPA would call for scraping the top few feet of soil off, then carting it away to a specialized incinerator, then finally sealing the top of whole site in asphalt or cement.

Given their performance so far, though, I doubt they'll go to that length in New Orleans.

[phantom power]

8. That sounds like the "old" EPA, before Bush staffed it with GOP puppets

Like he did with, oh, every other important government agency.

[meow mix]

9. new york had perfect and healthy air after 911

and im assuming all the material that needs to be cleaned up in NOLA will also be extremely "safe" in fact they can probally just leave it.
eventually itll dry up and blow away to wherever, and still be healthy for ppl.

[Nihil]

10. Not only that ...

Consider the liquid "stuff" being pumped up into Lake Ponchartrain.

The lake is several feet above sea level and empties slowly into the
Gulf. This means that the lake and waterways into the Gulf are now
becoming even more of a toxic slick than they are already.

Large parts of New Orleans are still at least ten feet below sea level.
Next time there is a storm surge, hurricane or anything involving the
least bit of flooding, the houses are not just inundated with water,
they will be *starting off* with a toxic soup ...

Whatever plan they use this time will have to be re-used every time
there is an "event" in the future. Or they could break down the levees
and let Nature reclaim it this time rather than next (or the one after).