If You Live In NYC, Speeding Endangers Your Drinking Water
15 responses to “If You Live In NYC, Speeding Endangers Your Drinking Water”
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(ascends soapbox)
Polluted fresh water = game over. The reservoir needs to be protected. I don’t like being pulled over any more than anyone else, but one overconfident speeder wiping out and spewing gasoline, oil and coolant onto the ground near a reservoir or watershed can very easily pollute the drinking water supply for millions. It’s no joke, and no abstraction.
In Portland, Oregon, the city’s drinking water is supplied from the Bull Run Watershed, an area near Mt. Hood that is off limits to the public. This means no four wheeling, no hunting with its attendant lead bullets and shot pellets and no backwoods campers pooping, washing dishes and lighting campfires. When you piss in the watershed, you are pissing in the drinking water for a million people. Again, no joke.
I’m no fan of law enforcement overreach, but in this case, the public good outweighs the desires of a handful of hoons.
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I agree. Sooner or later its going to happen, enforcement or not, probably speeding or not. There are plenty of roads to enjoy spirited driving on other than one where any sort of fluid spill is going to end up in drinking water.
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What about the animals? Exterminate them all, or outfit them with (non-disposable) diapers and send around crews on nappy patrol?
FYI, astronauts on the ISS drink recycled pee and sweat. Not all of it sourced from humans.
Let real cops write the speeding tickets, and if someone has an actual contamination event, let the DEPs enforce that.
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OK, if not from humans, where exactly is that reclaimed drinking water on the ISS sourced – little green moon men?
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Most of it IS from humans, but it’s also harvested from lab rats and the other experimental subjects.
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Not to mention, earth is pretty much a closed-loop system so ALL water is recycled water. Yes, whales had sex and fish peed in the water you drink.
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Oil etc is a different issue from organic matter
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Technically, the oil that comes from dead dinosaurs is also organic matter, but my animal comment was in reference to the “backwoods campers pooping” being banned from areas where animals roam.
https://d3thpuk46eyjbu.cloudfront.net/uploads/production/9565/1570654310/original/poops.gif
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Fair enough.
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It is interesting around here I live close to two watersheds. Both are lakes that at one time had development on them, one a resort/campground and another a train depot for logging operations surrounding the lake. Since then the land around them has been purchased and closed to public access. Though one of them allows tours for school children which I chaperoned when my daughter went. Contrast that to another city not too far away who’s drinking water comes from a lake surrounded by homes where power boating is allowed. Many of the homes on the more remote parts of the lake actually draw their water directly from the lake. The city did outlaw the use of 2 stroke engines on the part of the lake that is in their jurisdiction, but that is a small portion of said lake.
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A few years back we had a major drought in these parts. One of the two major drinking water reservoirs had several vehicles that had been there for decades uncovered by the receding water. Pollution is relative, you don’t go from purity to poison with a quart of Havoline or even an entire Cavalier dumped into a reservoir. Clean water is an important priority, but this is a 3rd derivative risk being mitigated through the happenstance of an enforcing agency getting cash payments at the end of the day. Vehicles will occasionally end up in rivers, lakes, ditches, etc. If our drinking water systems can’t handle it, That might be something that someone might look into, but all the enforcement in the world won’t stop drunks from driving, people from looking at their phones or yes, even speeding. If it is that critical, then close the road.
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A few years back we had a major drought in these parts. One of the two major drinking water reservoirs had several vehicles that had been there for decades uncovered by the receding water. Pollution is relative, you don’t go from purity to poison with a quart of Havoline or even an entire Cavalier dumped into a reservoir. Clean water is an important priority, but this is a 3rd derivative risk being mitigated through the happenstance of an enforcing agency getting cash payments at the end of the day. Vehicles will occasionally end up in rivers, lakes, ditches, etc. If our drinking water systems can’t handle it, That might be something that someone might look into, but all the enforcement in the world won’t stop drunks from driving, people from looking at their phones or yes, even speeding. If it is that critical, then close the road.
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How long have you worked in the water treatment industry?
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bald.tires is always my next internet stop after reading hooniverse. It’s cool to see Peter writing here! Serious articles and comedy, you’re doing great at both!
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Another example of how cities are “Sustainable.” Just import all your food, water, energy, products, and sanitation services from the surrounding rural areas and pretend you make zero impact on the environment because you have a handful of solar panels (Made with coal power in China) on the roof. Great story.
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