Toxic Waste Results in New Orleans
By: Lance Winslow
New Orleans is now drained and all the flooded waters have been released into Lake Pontchartrain. Do you have any idea what is in all that water? Lots of stuff you say? Well indeed you are correct, as there is sewage, decaying organic matter from animals and plants, as well as chemicals, gasoline, chlorine, oil and a host of other floating debris.
This does not sit well for those who fish in the lake, as that is now obviously not a smart idea. But how bad is it really? Well you can look for yourself as the EPA has done extensive testing to find out, exactly what is suspended, submerged and floating in the water, which was pumped back into Lake Pontchartrain after Hurricane Katrina:
http://www.epa.gov/katrina/testresults/chem/090305/chem2005_09_03.html
Thankfully the water was drained well ahead of schedule by the highly competent Army Corp of Engineers, that is a plus, as the faster it was pumped out the less contamination which would occur, much longer and corroded fuel tanks in cars, septic tanks and more sewer lines would have erupted and spewed more toxic materials into those flooded waters.
Recently in the past few years, Lake Pontchartrain was actually fishable again and was making a great come back from the many years of neglect and polluted runoff. Then just when you thought it was safe to go in the water again or fish, Hurricane Katrina reminded us that you can only tempt fate or Mother Nature for so long. Now we face another problem, how can we clean up the lake again? If you have ideas on that, there are people who could certainly use that information right about now. Think on it.
Lance Winslow - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/