Showing posts with label MWRD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MWRD. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Carp Crappola Cuomo! Chicago Tribune - Points Out Panic Peddling! Well Done!


It is heart-warmimg to see the Chicago Tribune waltz around the earnest panic peddlers of the Sierra Club, a Michigan Republican Snake Oil Salesman, Andrew "What's My Line" Cuomo and the easily spooked tabloid junkies in knit caps and Birkenstocks.

The Lads of Leo High School ( Environmental Science Sections 4& 5) and their Substitute Science Victim ( Your Humble Servant) are considering the history of the Water Reclamation District and this latest "WE NEED TO ACT NOW!" Dodge by the collectivist folks who gave us - Cap'N Trade, The Bank Bail-outs, GM (Government Motors) and the current Vote on Government Health Care.

I need to ACT FAST! Class is starting

This is all moving fast -- the Supreme Court could issue an emergency order as soon as Friday.

Without this fix, Michigan Attorney General Michael Cox claims, these fish will complete their "unrelenting march" to inflict "environmental and economic disaster." The fears aren't unreasonable, but they don't call for panic. Closing locks that serve as major shipping channels would cause serious economic damage throughout the region and should be considered only a last resort. Fortunately, there is time to weigh other options to find a less disruptive way to keep the carp out of Lake Michigan.

Last month, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources dumped poison in the canal to prevent unwanted migration into the lake when an electric fish barrier was turned off for maintenance. Lots of fish turned up dead, but only one Asian carp. That suggests that the barrier has been largely effective and that the number of carp in nearby rivers is minimal, making an immediate mass invasion unlikely.

There is always the possibility that the Asian carp could make their way past the barrier into Lake Michigan, of course. Fortunately, that would not necessarily be the fatal blow often portrayed. A few of the fish have been caught in Lake Erie in recent years, but so far there are no signs they have gained a permanent foothold.

That could indicate the Great Lakes are not a suitable habitat, if only because the plankton the carp need is already being gobbled up by other invaders, such as zebra mussels. The carp might be too late to the party.

It wouldn't be smart to place complete reliance on that reassuring prospect. Given the harm the carp could possibly do to Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes, more steps are needed to prevent an invasion. Illinois officials know that.

But Michigan and the other states are in full panic attack. Let's hope the Supreme Court doesn't buy into the hysteria.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Talking $hit with Shore - How PC Nitwits Slip Through the Cracks


Debra Shore is on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District ( formerly the Sanitary District) - one of the engineering miracles of civilization.

Debra Shore is a proudly Gay/Lesbian Green Activist who got elected through the marvel that is Cook County politics. About ten years ago gay activists decided to gain control of a branch of Cook County government and selected our water ways -in league with Environmental activists, n'cest pas. Kewl. Why should the Irish, Mexican, Cuban, Polish, and Black breeders have all the hegemony?

Shucks, I am sure that there have been Gay Sanitary District heroes from the get-go! Smart ones. Effective ones. Guys . . .Gays who reall knew their . . .Deb will get into that substance forthwith. However, I digress . . .Now, why must we settle for . . .interesting . . .naw, . .Dumb Ones?

Let's see, here.

http://www.metroweekly.com/gauge/?ak=4082

Debra Shore knows her feces. She talks feces. Shore has written many Huffington Post - a feces-full site if there ever was one -offerings on this topic and the water that passes it.

Debra Shore has not forgiven Chicago for reversing the Chicago River. The MWRD is tasked with maintaining and treating water in the Chicago Metropolitan area and with drainage of rain water as well -


The District's territory covers approximately 91% of land area and 98% of the valuation of Cook County, Illinois; and, unlike other sanitary districts, the district has the power to operate facilities outside its boundaries.[2] It serves an area of 883 square miles (2,290 km2) which covers the City of Chicago and 125 suburban municipalities. The District’s 554 miles (892 km) of intercepting sewer mains are linked to approximately 10,000 local connections.[3] Over 2,100 people are employed by the District.

The District operates the largest wastewater treatment plant in the world, the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant in Stickney, Illinois, in addition to six other plants and 23 pumping stations. The District treats an average 1.5 billion gallons of wastewater each day. It is also responsible for the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and maintains approximately 76 miles (122 km) of waterways, part of a national system connecting the Atlantic Ocean, Great Lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico.

The District oversees one of the largest civil engineering projects ever undertaken - the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan, better known as the "Deep Tunnel Project." It includes over one hundred miles of tunnels, 9 to 33 feet (10 m) in diameter each part of an extensive flood mitigation and pollution control project. Since 2005 the District has been responsible for stormwater management for all of Cook County and some areas outside of the District’s boundaries.

from Wikipedia.

Debra Shore writes about stewardship and rain barrels and how we can take better care of our 'discharges' as stewards of the waterways! Why toilets and our River's course is bad. Shore follows the nostrums of the late Catholic nitwit Geologian Thomas Berry who railed against man for living on this planet. He had a Theology determined by man's debt to inanimate objects -plants, rocks, water, trees & etc.

Debra Shore passes poop as a passion for people.

Now consider this: in our system of sanitation, we essentially use fresh, potable water as a wheelbarrow to transport waste. In Cook and eastern Lake County, Illinois, we take water out of Lake Michigan, filter it through sand to remove particles and treat it with chemicals to make it safe to drink, we pump it out through miles of pipe to our homes and businesses, and then we use that fresh, drinkable water in catchbasins called toilets to convey our human waste to a sewage treatment plant. I ask you, how smart is that?

(IT"S BRILLIANT! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????? sorry I should not have interrupted. Do go on!)

Here's another key point: unlike oil and other fossil fuels, there are no substitutes for freshwater. Yet today, in Cook County at least, we use water once for residential and industrial purposes, and then we essentially throw it away. That's because we reversed the Chicago River more than 100 years ago. So now, though we treat our sewage before discharging the effluent into the Chicago area waterways, our effluent flows down to the Gulf of Mexico. It is not returned to the lake. (Is it any wonder we call effluent waste water? Our current system assumes that water used once is garbage.)


Heavens! I mean . . ."Earth!"
That, Debra, is why the folks decided to set up a Water Reclamation District - to RECLAIM the Water!!!!


Now, I saw 5th Graders at St. Cajetan Grammar School with science projects on rainwater/condensation/snowflakes/clouds who showed the most elementary understanding of hydronics. Water it seems never goes away - it goes somewhere else but not away. MWRD treats lake water for SAFETY!!!!! Clean water goes in our pipes and into our sinks, glasses, mouths, goes round and round and eventually out to and through our Toilets! How smart is that? It is Brilliant!

Debra Shore is calling for Calcutta on the Calumet! Cholera for all Chicagoans!

Jesus Christ Superstar! Keep electing these bird-brains folks! Hacks and Political Old Timers gave us clean and well maintained water. That is sinful!

Now it gets better - do read on . . .

My point is this: using freshwater in toilets is not smart and it is not sustainable. I believe the homes of the future will be designed to use "grey" water -- the water from our washing machines and dishwashers, the water from our showers and from rain captured in barrels and cisterns -- to flush our toilets. This kind of redesign of water use, both residential and industrial, will be one of the growth industries of coming decades. (In the meantime, one of the simplest and best things you can do at home to conserve water is to replace old toilets with a new dual-flush model.)

My best friend used to live in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where water is more scarce and more costly. She kept a plastic bucket in her shower and every morning when she turned the water on and waited for it to warm up, she captured that water in the bucket. She used that bucket to water her plants and her garden. If you live in an apartment, you can use it to flush your toilet. It's perfectly good potable water just flowing down the drain. So I got a bucket and started trying that and I found that I am capturing 15 gallons a week in that minute or less while I am waiting for the water to warm up. You can try it too.

Debra Shore begs all of us," So, on World Toilet Day, here is my plea: monitor your water use. Think about ways to conserve water. And consider how lucky we are."

Cacat, Father Maibusch would say! Ms. Shore is an elected official of MWRD who was left in the marinade way too long.

How smart is Debra? As smart as a Progressive can get! They have a crowd of like minded folks ready for your ballots.