poop in the lake

I've fretted previously about waste water entering the Great Lakes. Last week, the Sierra Legal Defence Fund released a major study on the amount of raw sewage being dumped into the Great Lakes. It's a disgusting problem, and we are right to be concerned about what's going on upstream from us here in Toronto. We should also be ashamed of ourselves, as a city, for letting our own problems with untreated sewage discharges persist for so long.

In the Great Lakes Sewage Report Card, cities in the region are graded according to the amount of raw sewage that enters the watershed. Most typically, problems occur when rainfall overwhelms the sewage treatment system. Detroit, Cleveland, Windsor, and Toronto are the biggest offenders. (Buffalo and Toledo refused to provide the study with data; Chicago gets a good grade, but its waste water is diverted into the Mississippi watershed.)



Yesterday, when I visited my ducks (who are doing just fine, by the way), the water clarity of last week was replaced by turbidity--a sign of the recent rains.

I think the only creatures who should be allowed to poop in the lake are the ones that were here before humans came and fucked everything up.

Comments

Butchie said…
I'm swimmin in yer lake....



....poopin in yer waterz.
Anonymous said…
I agree. No more pooping in the lake - I'd aslo like to see fewer of our friends from "Pacific Rim" nations release live fish bought in Chinatown into the lake - apparently it is (wait for it) "Good Luck" to do so:

Finned invader hits Lake Ontario
By MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT
ENVIRONMENT REPORTER
Monday, November 24, 2003, Page A8
Biologists have discovered a grass carp, a dangerous invasive fish originally from Eastern Asia, living in Lake Ontario at the mouth of the Don River in Toronto.
The grass carp was caught inadvertently a few weeks ago by staff at Toronto and Region Conservation during an assessment of the size of fish communities in the Lower Don River, one of the city's most polluted waterways.
tornwordo said…
On cruise ships, they clean and recylce the waste so that what comes out after the process is actually potable. "But don't worry, we're only using that water to cool the engines. But it is in fact clean enough to drink."

So it's possible to process the waste before dumping it in the lake. But since it's government's responsibility and not a private enterprise, it will not happen, or it will cost multiple trillions to do it.
Pablo said…
I'm having similar problems with my plake.
St. Dickeybird said…
After spending 15 summers swimming in Lake Ontario, I'm amazed that I'm not deformed or toxic.
Timmy said…
lol @ butchie!
Nölff said…
That's a big lake. You guys must eat a lot.
Anonymous said…
You're zebra mussels.
Miss Thistle said…
I can't believe some people actually swim in that shit (literally!) in the summertime.
Anonymous said…
It's very sad. Rouge, you should write letters to your elected officials. The public needs to get involved in environmental concerns more. Otherwise, you'll be like us with a loony toon drilling in Alaska.
but you could think of something else to do with that poop, huh?
Pablo said…
My friends and I talk about poop all of the time. We are very concerned.
Riss said…
Soo... you want me to stop pooping in the lake. Got it.

(Just kidding, I don't understand why it's even an issue that raw sewage shouldn't be dumped into the Great Lakes.)
teh l4m3 said…
Pah! That's sooo like Buffalo to do that...
sirbarrett said…
That our Canadian cities are all crapping in the water is stewpid. It's not like we don't have the technology to do otherwise. It's not only poop that's a problem but also all the prescription drugs and stuff being flushed down the toilet contributing to fish with 4 times the thyroid gland they're supposed to, messing up their mating system and an obvious reason for the lack of a fishing industry.

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