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from the water-everywhere-but-not-a-drop-to-drink dept.
From MLive, Months after dire warnings, Flint spills 2 million gallons of raw sewage into river:
The city dumped an estimated 2 million gallons of untreated sewage into the Flint River Sunday, Aug. 18, just months after officials warned wastewater infrastructure was fast approaching a "critical point."
A partial report filed by the city with the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy on Tuesday, Aug. 20, says a "flash flood event" overflowed primary settling tanks at the city's wastewater treatment plant on Beecher Road, sending raw waste onto the ground and into a storm sewer drain that discharges directly to the river....
Earlier this year, the city sought a waiver from the Genesee County Health Department, requesting that it be allowed to skip testing river water for bacteria after sewage spills in cases in which the discharge comes from its retention basin.
From the WSWS (ICFI/SEP), Michigan: Two million gallons of untreated sewage spill into Flint River:
Genesee County issued a public advisory that people should avoid all contact with the Flint River. As of this writing six days later, there are no reports in the press or on government websites that the advisory has been lifted....
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that in the United States 7 million people on average per year, i.e., a population that would rank as the second largest city in the US, become ill from exposure to raw sewage, and 7 percent of these severely or fatally ill. While some of the illnesses are due to ingestion through drinking water, a majority are the result of external contact, often resulting from municipal spills.
Late Saturday night, over 2.2 inches of rain fell in the Flint area in just a three-hour period....
The Flint River has long been known to be highly polluted due to the unrestrained dumping of toxic waste into it by General Motors for the better part of a century.
On MLive (comments adwalled), user Chukobuk suggested:
Just raise industrial user sewer rates by a factor of ten. What else is GM going to use its vast federal income tax break for from the Tax and Jobs Cut Act? Laying off another 12,000 employees? Oh, sorry, that's the Tax Cut and Jobs Act.
A different failure mode from 2014: Power failure leads to raw sewage in Flint River
See also: 'Damage has been done': Newark water crisis echoes Flint
Previously:
Poisoned Democracy: How an Unelected Official Contaminated Flint's Water to Save Money
Here's How Hard It Will be to Unpoison Flint's Water
3 Officials Charged in Flint Water Crisis; More Arrests Seen
Prosecutor Charges Six Employees in Flint, Michigan Water Investigation
How ZIP Codes Nearly Masked the Lead Problem in Flint
Shigella Outbreak in Flint, Michigan Complicated by Untrusted Water
Lead in US School Water "Disturbing"—Detroit Just Shut Off All Fountains
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 26 2019, @06:49PM (6 children)
i'm no fan of big gov but with the system we have now someone needs to be held accountable. anytime something like this is allowed to happen it should trigger an automatic investigation and the fat cats on top who have been stealing for decades need to be thrown in prison for years and years.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Monday August 26 2019, @08:52PM (4 children)
This would amount to interfering with commerce. Picking the whiners and losers. Government should be hands off. There should be no regulation of anything. Etc.
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 26 2019, @09:15PM (3 children)
I don't know how stupid you need to be to blame "free markets" for government corruption. But that is you.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday August 26 2019, @10:11PM (2 children)
Pretty sure that poster was being sarcastic...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday August 27 2019, @03:44PM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday August 28 2019, @12:43AM
And yet, you go on constantly...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday August 27 2019, @04:10AM
That lack of accountability is a large part of the reason one shouldn't be a fan of big gov.