waterborne contaminants force fish downstream to "work harder" simply to survive

[leashedForLife]

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nobody likes to think about, or talk about, water treatment AKA sewage plants -
here in the USA, they're virtually ALL completely-ineffective "primary" treatment, which basically means let feces & other solids settle out [paper mulch from toilet tissue, etc], filter large remaining particles, agitate the water to help bacteria break down the organic matter, & let it go.

this process doesn't remove heavy metals, agricultural chemicals, fire-retardants [exhaled into our tightly-sealed modern homes from furniture, clothing, carpet... & incorporated into our bodies], Rx & OTC meds that we've taken orally, or absorbed via patches, or put on as ointments, industrial chemicals, lawn-care products, cleaning chemicals, automotive runoff [oil, hydraulic fluid, antifreeze, windshield-washing solution, _____ ], & many other toxins, which can also combine to form new & entirely unknown compounds, with unknown - but probably unhappy - effects.

The fish downstream are struggling to cope.
Pharmaceuticals and other contaminants force fish to work much harder to survive: Contaminants remain after typical water treatment process

Decontamination of their own bodies costs them metabolic energy - a LOT of energy.
It's the equivalent in "work" of us humans adding several hours of brisk walking to our daily routines, day in & day out, without the option to skip it.

We need to seriously upgrade our water-treatment processes, so that the water we discharge from them into the environs is AT LEAST as clean as the potable water we use to drink, prior to our soiling it.
With only 2% of the world's water in a drinkable state, we must use it, re-use it, & re-use it again, indefinitely - or die. We can't continue to use it & throw it back DIRTY.

Everything U put down a drain or into a stream, onto the soil or into the air, U will eventually drink.
Think about that the next time U use the dishwasher, flush the toilet, or wash laundry.
: ponder:

- terry

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[arealhuman]

This is interesting, as some of the training I deliver here in the UK references some major American water quality lapses (also a lot of UK ones, too!). Perhaps the capitalist model isn't suitable for water provision - here companies make money by providing clean drinking water but there is next to zero choice of who your supplier is, which essentially means these companies can pretty much charge what they want, with their main aim being returning a good dividend to their shareholders. The government here has just made some noises on this subject saying that if water companies don't start reinvesting profit back into the water distribution network (rather than shareholders), they will take action. We lose a disgusting amount of drinking water through leakage.

 

[leashedForLife]

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making water into a commodity is disastrous -
look at the results of for-profit companies in C & S America, & S Africa! - profiteering corporations took over the production & provision of municipal water, bled the consumers dry by overcharging, made millions for themselves & their stockholders, & then pulled the plug -
they disappeared, leaving complex systems that no one knew how to operate, repair, maintain, or oversee, & hundreds of thousands of citizens without water.

In S Africa, water in the black "townships" is not only scarce & also often consists of a public tap in a central location, but it's more costly than water in the majority-white suburban or urban zones. This despite the plain fact that the black popn is paid less, even now, & thus cannot afford to pay a surcharge for a NECESSITY.
U can give up eating restaurant meals - U cannot stop drinking water; U'll die.

Water must be locally controlled, locally sourced, & locally cleaned before it is discharged into a stream, river, or pond. // Tertiary, not "primary", should be the level of treatment. We need biological filters to remove pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, ag-chems, industrial compounds, etc.

here's a slideshow on use of natural systems to produce DRINKABLE tertiary-treated wastewater, safe for us, & for our planet -
Water Treatment Technology that Works for Megacities in need of Efficient Wastewater Treatment, Recycling, Soil Remediation and Food Production Resources. - ppt download

attached are some photos of artificial wetlands that are actually water-treatment sites, & the final photo, an aerial shot of Ontario's about-to-be upgraded 'Skyway' treatment plant.
article:
Skyway wastewater treatment plant celebrates grand opening

Photo #1 unfortunately shows an invasive reed, a fast-spreading aggressive alien [native to Aus, IIRC] - Phragmites is the tall plant resembling undersized bamboo, in the foreground. If there was a virus or rust that would selectively target Phragmites, i'd donate cash to buy air-fuel for planes to dust the dam*ed stuff from the air.
It's a very tough plant that creates miles on end, acres to the horizon, of "green desert" - it feeds nothing, it doesn't stabilize banks or water courses, it clogs currents & chokes-off flow to create stinking algal-choked sinks.
But nonetheless, despite the unwelcome invader, the working marsh is a brilliant way of removing the otherwise-impossible contaminants - nickel, lead, chromium, birth-control & other hormones, fire retardants, & so on.

Photos #2 & #3 show native plants in constructed wetlands, filtering water & taking-up nitrogen & other contaminants.

- terry

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[leashedForLife]

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more on "water as a commodity" -

BBC NEWS | Africa | Water for all, or for profit?

the comments under the article above are eye-opening & wide-ranging, representing everything from "of course sell it, & why not create dividends?", to "This is fascism."

Water for Profit

Cochabamba Water War - Wikipedia

the Int'l Monetary Fund & the WORLD BANK have many, many sins to repent - having 1st created massive debt for developing nations, they go on to compound their crimes by deepening the money-pit, which their struggling client-nations will never climb out of.
Encouraging their debtor-nations to 'modernize' their water systems by hiring a for-profit foreign corporation to come in & take over their water distribution, treatment, & billing is the latest of their criminal endeavors, along with convincing developing nations to build massive hydropower dams, which are short-term profit for a few, but in the long term, silt-up & strangle the living river.
The Aswan High Dam in Egypt was among the 1st of these - it flooded thousands of arable acres, evicted local people, drowned thousands of animals & irreplaceable cultural artifacts & historic sites, caused widespread earthquakes & continues to add strain to known faults [the sheer weight of all that water], altered the humidity locally due to massive evaporation from the impounded water's surface, & reduced the fertility of the lower Nile - no more annual flooding; no more newly-deposited, rich silt.
The faster-flowing water, having dropped its payload of silt behind the dam, has undercut bridges downstream of the Aswan that have stood for hundreds of years.

note the roles played by the IMF & World Bank in Bolivia's water-war -
FRONTLINE/WORLD . Bolivia - Leasing the Rain . Timeline: Cochabamba Water Revolt | PBS


watch the video here -
FRONTLINE/WORLD . Bolivia - Leasing the Rain . The Story | PBS

QUOTE,
"Bolivia is the poorest country in South America. 70% of its people live below the poverty line. Nearly one child in ten dies before the age of five. The Bolivian economy, never strong, was wrecked by hyperinflation in the 1980s.
Desperate for relief, Bolivia has faithfully followed the dictates of the international lending community for the past fifteen years [1987 to 2002] -- selling its airline, railroads, mines, & electric company to private - & usually foreign-controlled - companies. The economic shock-therapy tamed inflation, but led to severe recession, & massive unemployment.
In the 1990s, Bolivia, under pressure from the United States, eradicated its most lucrative export - coca - the leaf used for cocaine.
"Drugs, illegal as they may be, were 3% of the GDP & 18% of exports", Luis Quiroga, Bolivia's vice-president during the water war, tells Finnegan. "Bad as it was, damaging as it was, from a purely business standpoint... [the drug trade] was Milton Friedman heaven: all privately run, no taxation, no regulation, & in essence -- if you want to look at it cynically -- duty-free access to markets", observes Quiroga, now Bolivia's president.

Politicians like Quiroga fully supported the eradication of coca, but the loss of drug money made the country even more dependent on international financial institutions like the World Bank. The Bank advised the country to continue selling its remaining assets, including water.
Cochabamba put its water system up for auction in 1999. Only one bidder showed: Aguas del Tunari, a division of the large American construction firm Bechtel, promised to expand water service. In exchange, the contract guaranteed the company a 15 to 17% profit.
Two months after taking over the water system, Aguas del Tunari raised the water rates [by 35%]. People, resentful & angry, took to the streets in protest. One leader was Oscar Olivera, a long-time union activist. He & others tapped into the anger many Bolivians feel about their country's long history of political corruption & foreign domination.
"Everyone was protesting, everyone," journalist Luis Bredow [said]. "I've never seen anything like it, in Bolivia. Housewives were throwing stones, at the police! - It really was a revolt."

Although a major American corporation was the center of the conflict, not a single U.S. newspaper had a reporter on scene. But news of the uprising reached a worldwide audience through the Internet, thanks to Jim Shultz, an American activist living in Cochabamba. Shultz showed Finnegan how he organized an e-mail campaign to pressure Bechtel to leave town. The company finally withdrew, & the uprising subsided.

But did anyone really win the water war?
Aguas del Tunari filed suit against the Bolivian government, asking $25 million in compensation. The case is being heard in Washington D.C., in an arbitration court run by the World Bank.
The water warriors who ousted Bechtel took control of the water system, vowing to run it as a human right, not as a commodity. But without new investment, they've been unable to improve or expand service.
Neither the government, nor the World Bank, appears willing to help them."

source of the quote -
FRONTLINE/WORLD . Bolivia - Leasing the Rain . The Story | PBS


I told my friends in college that i hoped i'd die before the water-wars began; they've already started, & i'm still alive.

Pakistan & India were already quarreling about water rights in the 1930s; the WORLD BANK negotiated a settlement [notice their fingers in every pie...], & the Indus Rivers Treaty was the result. Rain is a very rare event in Pakistan; the citizens & every living thing in that country, depend almost entirely on river water - for everything.
By the 1990s, tensions escalated into an actual war over the meltwater from a glacier that borders both countries; Paki soldiers have served in this "war in the clouds", high in the mountains, ever since.

I attach some photos of the Pakistan army, fighting for water - which is life.
- terry

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[arealhuman]

It's been said that future wars will be fought over water. Looks like it's starting