<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for Post-Katrina floodwaters are dirty, but so are other U.S. waterways]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by bdeluke http://www.grist.org/article/davidson/ Wed, 12 Oct 2005 01:39:39 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/davidson/1 A LOOMING CRISIS!

Words can't describe what it must still be like in New Orleans and around the Gulf Coast. The devastation is heartbreaking and it's painful to see folks struggling to obtain even the most basic essentials. But, disasters such as this should serve to remind us just how important clean water is in our daily lives.

Clean water is so vital, so basic, and yet the federal government continues to slash funding for infrastructure! And while I can not believe that the water systems of the Gulf Coast were ever meant to withstand this type of natural disaster, the author is dead on accurate in asserting that access to clean water in areas of the country that will never see the likes of Hurricanes Katrina or Rita remains a public health issue due to aging and failing water infrastructure.

Although access to clean and safe water is viewed as a right rather than a privaledge by most Americans, it is increasingly threatened. This is an issue that can no longer be out of sight out of mind in this country. The $400 billion funding gap for clean water needs to be addressed NOW before all our hard fought gains in water quality are lost!

According to the EPA and Government Acountability Office, if this gap is not addressed, we will see a return to pre - Clean Water Act levels of impairment as early as 2016!

Please visit Clean Water America at http://www.cleanwateramerica.org for more information and reports on this issue and sign the petition to create a clean water trust fund so the federal government can no longer turn its back on our water.

]]> A LOOMING CRISIS!

Words can't describe what it must still be like in New Orleans and around the Gulf Coast. The devastation is heartbreaking and it's painful to see folks struggling to obtain even the most basic essentials. But, disasters such as this should serve to remind us just how important clean water is in our daily lives.

Clean water is so vital, so basic, and yet the federal government continues to slash funding for infrastructure! And while I can not believe that the water systems of the Gulf Coast were ever meant to withstand this type of natural disaster, the author is dead on accurate in asserting that access to clean water in areas of the country that will never see the likes of Hurricanes Katrina or Rita remains a public health issue due to aging and failing water infrastructure.

Although access to clean and safe water is viewed as a right rather than a privaledge by most Americans, it is increasingly threatened. This is an issue that can no longer be out of sight out of mind in this country. The $400 billion funding gap for clean water needs to be addressed NOW before all our hard fought gains in water quality are lost!

According to the EPA and Government Acountability Office, if this gap is not addressed, we will see a return to pre - Clean Water Act levels of impairment as early as 2016!

Please visit Clean Water America at http://www.cleanwateramerica.org for more information and reports on this issue and sign the petition to create a clean water trust fund so the federal government can no longer turn its back on our water.

]]> Comment #2 by pmaier http://www.grist.org/article/davidson/ Wed, 12 Oct 2005 06:52:30 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/davidson/2 Nobody should be surprised!

Visualize the following: a man standing on the banks of a river with in one hand a glass of city drinking water and in the other a glass of beer. EPA's water pollution regulations, will not allow him to throw the drinking water into the river, but would allow him to throw in half the beer.  He also could drink both glasses, wait and be allowed to urinate into the river.

EPA regulations not only ignores part of the pollution caused by fecal waste, but all the pollution caused by nitrogenous (urine and protein) waste, on top of many other pollutants.

Fortunately for EPA this is technical stuff nobody is supposed to understand, especially not individuals working in the media.

Sadly it is only the tip of the pollution iceberg that now impacts the water quality of our drinking water.

]]> Nobody should be surprised!

Visualize the following: a man standing on the banks of a river with in one hand a glass of city drinking water and in the other a glass of beer. EPA's water pollution regulations, will not allow him to throw the drinking water into the river, but would allow him to throw in half the beer.  He also could drink both glasses, wait and be allowed to urinate into the river.

EPA regulations not only ignores part of the pollution caused by fecal waste, but all the pollution caused by nitrogenous (urine and protein) waste, on top of many other pollutants.

Fortunately for EPA this is technical stuff nobody is supposed to understand, especially not individuals working in the media.

Sadly it is only the tip of the pollution iceberg that now impacts the water quality of our drinking water.

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