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Clean Water Act
Posted by Bigmnt on Jan 30 2006
Live2fish is telling the truth! Most municipal sewage treated waste streams are better in quality than the water ways they dump into. The fact is that the decant water from or wastewater must eventually go down stream. We really, can’t stop it, the best we can do is regulate it. Unlike the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act has basically two goals in mind: to keep our open waters fishable and swimable. When ever a private or municipality discharges a waste stream into the environment they fall under the regulations of the Clean Water Act as the federal minium standard, which is not to say that they may have other regulatory laws to adhere to also.
The real problem arises under these regulations are which fish are we protecting and what contaminations are we regulating? To give you one example: Fluoride has been a big topic in the west for the last decade and now many comminutes have mandated that Fluoride be added to the drinking water supplies. California and Oregon are real adamant about this Fluoride addition mandate. The argument is that Fluoride prevents tooth decay. Many systems are feeding over 1 part per million (ppm) above the baseline of the natural occurring Fluoride in the source water at present. The Fluoride is not used up as we consume it or flush it down or toilets and drains, it along with hundreds of other constituents end up at the wastewater collection points and hopefully are treated before being discharged into our river, lakes and oceans
Studies over the past ten years, or so, have provided proof positive that Fluoride in concentrations of .35 ppm are harmful to salmonid species of fish, and become toxic at .65 ppm. Salmonid species of fish are trout, salmon, and char. The problem here is that the Clean Water Act does not address this problem in its current state. Wastewater facilities have not been mandated to deal or should I say treat with this problem and I use Fluoride as just one example and there are many more to be listed.
Now lets say that Soldotna, has a tooth past company like Crest come in and put in a plant. Crest generates tons upon tons of tooth past that is loaded with Fluoride. In Crests waste stream are copious amounts of Fluoride which make there way down to Live2fish’s sewer lagoons and the solid and settleable wastes are biologically and naturally treated to a point and then put through a UV generator to kill off any biological pathogens. Water looks clean, TDS and conductivity are all within the law Live2fish has done his job, no ducks or geese with two heads, right! Water is flowing into the Swainson river or moose creek or where ever it discharges too and the city is happy...Oh but wait! First year fishing is great, but the rainbow and dollies are dying out. The next three years are average for Salomon and then on the fifth year things take a drastic turn. Let me interject here that Live2fish’s sewer lagoons are no longer best available control technology and cannot be expanded on to meet the communities growth, (Outlawed)must find something better. Soldotna still is in compliance and we did not find any two headed ducks! The city of Soldotna just may have the potential to kill off all the salmon in the Keni River system.
Just a thought .....Bigmnt
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