Water warning issued at South Florida beach

[djfrankie]

For those of you that are using NSW at this time be careful.

http://www1.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/MI78209/

djfrankie

 

[loyalrogue]

Thanks for the heads-up, Frankie.

Couple this warning with the one from a earlier this month that extended all the way from Pompano down to Miami, and you know why I'm questioning NSW collection practices in my other thread.
I'm not thrilled about the prospect of using water that the health dept. says I shouldn't be touching... hmmm, that makes me wonder, has anyone ever had a sample of their NSW tested in any way?
I'd be interested to hear those results.

 

[Ding2daDong]

The first time I buy NSW in over 6 months and now it maybe contaminated. LOL just my luck, it's already in the tank now though.

-Matthew

 

[djfrankie]

I, personally have always treated NSW changes as the holy grail and have never bother to question the quality of such.

I think it's time for me to rethink this.

djfrankie

 

[ReefWreak]

About every other water change, since I do them so sparingly, for whatever reason, I decide to test the water. NO3, PO4, alk, and CA. Never had anything but zero for NO3 and PO4, alk and CA are always on the low but acceptable side.

Of course, when this stuff happens, it's what you can't test for that you worry about.

 

[roblack]

Depends on where the NSW comes from. Some store bought NSW actually comes from miles off shore, and is pumped from deep below the surface. Boats go out and load up and sell it to the stores, or maybe they just goto the beach and get the bacteria water and lie about it. I use NSW, but would never use NSW from here on Miami Beach. Would be a pain to carry it out of the ocean, across the sand, and then street, and so on. All that for dirty water? It's funny, I'll swim in the water at South Beach but won't put it in my fishtank.

 

[djfrankie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11972193#post11972193 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by roblack
Depends on where the NSW comes from. Some store bought NSW actually comes from miles off shore, and is pumped from deep below the surface. Boats go out and load up and sell it to the stores, or maybe they just goto the beach and get the bacteria water and lie about it. I use NSW, but would never use NSW from here on Miami Beach. Would be a pain to carry it out of the ocean, across the sand, and then street, and so on. All that for dirty water? It's funny, I'll swim in the water at South Beach but won't put it in my fishtank.

Rick (VIP) told me once he gets it from Government cut during high tide.

I don't know about the others though.

I would just be careful anyways.

djfrankie

 

[loyalrogue]

<a href=http://www.reef-rescue.org/MiamiHerald/SouthFloridasewagepipescauseastink.htm target=_blank>Originally printed in part at reef-rescue.org from an original story in the Miami Herald</a>

State environmental regulators want to plug six pipes that pump some half-billion gallons a day of ''minimally treated'' sewage into the ocean off Southeast Florida, saying the longtime practice wastes precious water and is likely damaging reefs and marine life.

But Miami-Dade and Broward counties are balking, citing a price tag in the billions for new wastewater recycling systems that could boost typical household water bills by $20 or more a month.

''It is not in the public interest to spend a significant amount of money to eliminate the discharges when we do not have the answer as to what is really causing the impact to reefs,'' says part of a presentation Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez planned to deliver to Gov. Charlie Crist on Wednesday.

The meeting was rescheduled for next week, but two Broward mayors already have given similar messages to Crist, who has yet to sign off on the proposal from the Department of Environmental Protection. Last month, Broward Mayor Josephus Eggelletion Jr. and Hollywood Mayor Mara Giulianti sent letters calling the costs prohibitive and requesting more precise data about harm to marine life.

Environmentalists and divers, who have pushed the state and utilities in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties to plug the pipes, believe persuasive research links nutrients in sewage to reef-choking algae blooms.

''It's the same as putting manure on your garden.'' said Ed Tichenor, who directs Palm Beach County's Reef Relief, which has campaigned to shut down the pipes since a major bloom engulfed a favorite diving spot in Delray Beach in 2003.

Brian LaPointe, a marine scientist at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Fort Pierce, said research shows much higher concentrations of ammonia, nitrogen and a soup of other pollutants than the state has estimated and direct impacts from not only algae but coral diseases and other maladies.

''I've seen firsthand what sewage does to reefs,'' he said.

DEP doesn't endorse a direct link between sewage and reef damage but its report says the "weight of the evidence . . . calls into question the environmental acceptability.''

Dade, Broward and Palm Beach each have two pipes running between two and three miles out to sea, discharging at depths of about 100 feet. Dade's extend from Virginia Key and near Florida International University's campus in North Miami. Broward's run from Hollywood and Pompano Beach.

Emphasis mine.

So this is what wories me... those pipes pump 500 million gallons of partially-treated sewage a day, 2 or 3 miles of the coast.
Environmental estimates from other sources claim that 4% of that ends up back in the surf/beach area where people swim.
That sewage comes in with the high-tide when our NSW is being collected.

So either collect on the incoming tide and get medium-rare sewage, or collect on the outgoing tide and get all the run-off from our pesticides, fertilizers, and road drippings.

Hmmm, decisions, decisions...

We really need to push for those pipes to be shutdown and that water to be retreated and reused for other purposes.
Write your local and state representatives.