Water treatment after being pumped out

[Hillbeans]

Does anyone know what kind of treatment the water will (hopefully) go through as it's being pumped back into the lake???

I know the priority is getting rid of the water in the city, but what will they do to treat the water so it doesn't spread more disease to surrounding areas??? :confused3

[HayGan]

No treatment going on. It is being pumped back into Lake Pontchartrain as is.

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

The water shouldn't be a health risk unless you drink it or submerge yourself in it or eat something that was in there. Yes, the lake will be horribly contaminated, but I don't think anything will spontaneously rise up out of that water and start infecting people as far as viruses.

The NO mayor expressed concern that the mosquitos were going to bite the dead bodies and spread disease. As far as I know, mosquitos only bite things that are breathing. I also can't think of anything the mosquitos could transmit from a body that drowned. If the person died from something that is ordinarily transmitted by mosquitos, like malaria, then it's a problem. But I am PRETTY sure that if you drown your body doesn't spontaneously fill with malaria or West Nile. And I don't think mosquitos bite dead things. People who died from drowning or dehydration aren't likely to be infected with anything that the mosquitos could spread.

Health officials please fell free to correct my assumptions!

[laurie31]

I read a quote from someone (sorry I can't find it now...) that there wasn't enough money in the gross national product of the United States to properly treat the contaminated water :(

So it will just get pumped out...and be contaminated.

Laurie

[Free4Life11]

Isn't the GDP near $10 trillion? It really takes that much to treat water? I'm glad I'm not down there! Hope the Great Lakes never get infected like that....YUCK!

[WDWHound]

Isn't the GDP near $10 trillion? It really takes that much to treat water? I'm glad I'm not down there! Hope the Great Lakes never get infected like that....YUCK!
I don;t think its a matter of cost. I think Its a matter of time. It would take time to set up a decontaminations system, and thats time we don't have., Every day that water stays in the city makes the situation worse and more dangerous. We don't have the days or weeks it would would take to solve the contamination issue. We have to pump the water out now.

I understand that the lake will be a mess because of it, but I see no choice. Lets hope a massive cleanup effort on the lake is launched once New Orleans has recovered sufficiently.

[WebmasterAlex]

not only would the cost be prohibitive but it would take unreal amounts of time. For example the largest pump in the system is capable of flowing over 74,800 gallons per second! You could not treat water moving that fast it would have to be held, treated etc

[WaltD4Me]

Gross as it as, someone from the Army core of engineers said there is just no way to treat the water that would not take alot of time and they HAVE to get the water out ASAP. He said there is a much greater health risk leaving it in the city longer to treat it, than from pumping it out as is. Basically he said, they didn't have a choice, but to just pump it back in.

[Free4Life11]

Where does N.O. get their water from? I don't think I'd want to live there ever or even visit with all the bacteria...could you get sick from drinking the water in say, a year or two?

[Hillbeans]

Where does N.O. get their water from? I don't think I'd want to live there ever or even visit with all the bacteria...could you get sick from drinking the water in say, a year or two?


That's why I just can't see people asking to stay around for the next few months - what about taking a shower, brushing your teeth.....

[Free4Life11]

That's why I just can't see people asking to stay around for the next few months - what about taking a shower, brushing your teeth.....

I know that's what I was thinking about. For drinking there is always botter water, but all the things you mentioned. :confused3

[WebmasterAlex]

I don't think that will be an issue. The water we are talking about is the standing water. After the drinking water system is repaired it will be completely tested before anyone is told to use it. Drinking water systems in all cities are monitered continously for problems like this.

[julfre]

Malaria and cholera and some of the other exotic diseases that don't normally exist in the NO area have almost no chance of occuring. E coli contamination from human and animal waste is a definite health issue and is what they should be talking about, but it doesn't sound as exotic and interesting as a potential malaria outbreak to TV reporters.

Almost any Water can be treated properly to make good quality drinking water so once the water system is back up to speed and treatment centers are going, drinking water is going to be fine. Any of the proteins( a nice way of saying waste and dead animals etc) that go into the lake will decompose and will not be a factor after a period of time. Once the proteins are gone the E coli won't have anything to live on and their levels will drop off. Heavy metals and oil are truly longer term problems. The lake can and will get clean again by mostly natural means- it will just take time.

Sorry for the rant, but sometimes the TV reporters go to the most extreme unrealistic possibilites when they report.

[laurie31]

Isn't the GDP near $10 trillion? It really takes that much to treat water? I'm glad I'm not down there! Hope the Great Lakes never get infected like that....YUCK!

Okay, I found the quote:

"This is the worst case," Hugh Kaufman, a senior policy analyst at the Environmental Protection Agency, said of the toxic stew that contaminates New Orleans. "There is not enough money in the Gross National Product of the United States to dispose of the amount of hazardous material in the area."

I have no idea if he was being overdramatic, or maybe just trying to drive home the point that proper decontamination of such a huge volume of water was just not possible :(

Here's the link:
http://miva.sctimes.com/miva/cgi-bin/miva?Web/page.mv+1+local+373112

Laurie

[goin2disneyagain]

Does anyone know what kind of treatment the water will (hopefully) go through as it's being pumped back into the lake???

I know the priority is getting rid of the water in the city, but what will they do to treat the water so it doesn't spread more disease to surrounding areas??? :confused3
This was asked by a reporter this morning and the answer that was given was no treatment. They felt that by the time the water reached the lake and then what leaked into the gulf the water would be diluted.

I hope they are right. :confused3