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posted by takyon on Monday August 26 2019, @03:30PM   Printer-friendly
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:


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday August 26 2019, @07:44PM (1 child)

    by Thexalon (636) on Monday August 26 2019, @07:44PM (#885777)

    I don't see how getting flooded with crap will change politicians' behavior when they're already full of crap.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
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  • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday August 27 2019, @01:51AM

    by Immerman (3985) on Tuesday August 27 2019, @01:51AM (#885892)

    The difference is, sewage is mostly "little people's" crap, while politicians are accustomed to being paid handsomely to serve up gilded corporate crap.