The EPA Proposes Polluting Again
9/6/1

Dangit! The stupid EPA is talking about land application for the treatment of wastewater again. Didn�t we just read about how they polluted the heck out of some marshes or swamps and killed everything doing this? Those morons.

Sure, we all know that the earth will heal itself [if you want to use that terminology, which I actually don�t like very much] but why make it work at it? We have wastewater treatment plants. Why dump dooky water on the wildlife?

This time it is a little different. The EPA is suggesting that crops be irrigated with wastewater. Now, perhaps they don�t realize how stupid they are, but I�ll clue them in. Water runs downhill.

Yes, it�s true. Water does, in fact, obey the law of gravity. Thus, all wastewater treatment plants are generally located near large bodies of water since that is where the lowest land is, and there is usually a convenient stream to run your sewer lines along.

Here, in cotton country, we do have a crop that lends itself to irrigation by poo poo water. We don�t eat cotton. However, like a field with too many horses on it, eventually the high nitrogen loading will foul the soil.

Are all the people at the EPA morons?

Ok, back to the gravity part. The cotton fields are occasionally located near the river, but most are on higher ground and use wells to irrigate. The EPA, in this shortsighted plan, would have pump stations and force mains pushing water to the farms. You�d have all the problems associated with a forced water system like the tap water system, but with a biohazard in it. Brilliant. The EPA should fill out applications to become a Batman villain.

There is the additional aspect of legislation to limit the types of crops and what the land can be used for in the future. Will I have a label on my food saying �Crap Corn: This corn grown with human waste�? Or will the land become a sort of brownfield from this? Good for nothing but to build low rent housing for those on the dole?

Why why why does the EPA insist on polluting like this? They are so strict on their little biodiversity crap. Diversity my ass, you�ll have a diversity of fecal coliform and metals in that soil.

Which brings about a subject close to my heart, metal ions in industrial waste streams. This water that the EPA wants to put all over the ground, will it be only residential waste? Will there have to be separate lines for industry so that the nasty metal ions such as hexavalent chrome [irritatingly called chromium 6 in that Julia Roberts movie] don�t screw up the reproductive cycles of, oh, everything they come into contact with?

Is it ok to kill birds, or whatever will drink this water?

We have a big machine, called a wastewater treatment plant, which uses the same biological processes that the natural environment does but in a more concentrated form. Why not just keep using that?

Because the EPA is anti-technology, that�s why.

Another, and nastier than I�ll really cover here, topic: Hey, buddy, the bar screen doesn�t catch everything.

Now, I know this stuffo is a bit of a departure, but, ooh, I�m fired up.