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| Science & Technology | |
| Remember all the fish that died in California last week? Blame flushing toilets, official says | |
| 2022-09-14 | |
| They're talking about San Francisco. A more likely culprit would be people pooping in the bay. [FoxNews] Every time one of the over 7 million people living in the San Francisco Bay Area flushes a toilet, they feed potentially harmful red algae in the bay and its estuaries. The issue came to a head last month when images and videos of thousands of fish floating belly up in Oakland, California’s Lake Merritt, made national news. A harmful algae bloom called "red tide" killed the creatures. A heat wave then compounded the issue by hastening the fish rot. Neighbors told KTVU FOX 2 that the stench was unbearable, and the city rushed to clear out 10,000 dead fish before the long, Labor Day weekend. "So if you flush the toilet, you're sending nutrients to local wastewater treatment plants that discharges to San Francisco Bay," said Eileen White, chief officer of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Control Board, which regulates and permits all wastewater utilities in the Bay Area. "Over 60% of the (nutrient) loads to San Francisco Bay comes from the wastewater treatment plants." White said all their discharges into the bay meet current effluent limits, but nutrient loads have been increasing. "Nutrient loads have continued to increase over the last two decades until 2018," White said. "We said, 'We're not, we can't keep going on this curve, and at some point, we're going to hit the tipping point.'" "This is an ongoing issue that's not going away, and I think this was a critical last month," White said. "(It has) highlighted an issue to the Bay Area, that people were not aware of, that we at the water board have been aware of for over a decade and studying it, but I think now the public has become aware of a multi-billion-dollar issue that's facing the Bay Area." A COSTLY SOLUTION The water board re-issues permits in 2024, and White said they are analyzing data collected about the nutrient load numbers and the science of red tide before possibly setting new effluent limits, which would mean more costly treatment and disposal. White said the water board tasked all wastewater utilities in 2018 to study alternatives to dumping in the bay and upgrade equipment. The upgrades would have cost an estimated $14 billion to implement, she said. "Wastewater utilities would have to go on that and pass that on to the ratepayers, and so that's why we want to make sure the science is informing the future regulations," White said. "That's the message: rates can go up very significantly."
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| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #6 I left my poop in San Francisco. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2022-09-14 18:49 |
| #5 Not the drug laced feces all over the pavement. Its you, citizen, and your lack of taxed money who is responsible. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2022-09-14 13:19 |
| #4 #2 and beyone that commission, CA is looking to return to segregated schools. |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2022-09-14 12:53 |
| #2 Stop spending money on fripperies that accomplish nothing Gavin Newsom Launches ‘Racial Equity Commission’ to Follow Up Reparations Committee |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2022-09-14 10:15 |
| #1 Sacramento Business Owners Protest Dangers of Homeless Drug-Addicted, Mentally-Ill Transients |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2022-09-14 10:13 |