On August 19th during a rain event we dumped 216,837 gallons of untreated sewage and rain water into Clemson Pond. This fetid plume then wends it’s way out to the Great Bay. It is imperative we stand up and get this fixed and quit the lame attempts to weasel out of our collective responsibility. I don’t care at all about the economy juxtaposed against this continuing issue of CSO’s and lousy pipes. We are fouling our environment, wasting water, and sitting on our hands.
The Exeter CSO report was once front and center on the Town’s web site.
It’s kinda buried these days.
I have inquired this morning regarding the hand written notes on this document below, specifically the E. coli colony count. I will post that later if I get an answer from the EPA.
http://town.exeter.nh.us/stormwater/CSO081911.pdf
There was scum on the Squamscott River today, our scum.
100 year old water pipes on Lincoln Street, it just blows my mind. What was going on in this Town prior to my 20 years?
Not much.
This is a 50000 gallon tank, we just sent 4 of these sewage torpedoes towards the Great Bay.
Again.
Did any of you read the story concerning Stinky Creek in beautiful Rye, NH? It empties into the Ocean near Wallis Sands Beach. It’s loaded with sewage I guess. In the news article recently in the Portsmouth Herald, Rye Town officials speak about septic fields that are decrepit and leaking.I mean where else do you suppose it’s coming from, in Rye?
Hmm, whenever I ask about how whole Towns can be on septic and who inspects these septic systems I get funny looks.
The flip answer is always that if there was an issue with their septic system the property owner would know about it.
That’s a bunch of crap.
The fact is there is no political will to put the hammer down on the great mass of people that are on septic and do not take care of their systems and or have poorly designed systems.
Everyone is going to pay to fix this mess, whether you are hooked to a Community sewerage system or not. You do realize that the waste that is occasionally pumped from your septic tank has to be taken to a sewage treatment plant right?
Your choice is simple, stay and pay, or move out . Be prepared though wherever you go, it’s the same deal all over the USA.
Stand up
Mike
UPDATE 8/26/11 I am in receipt of a note from DES explaining that they are heavily involved in disaster planning and the staff member that handles Exeter’s CSO tracking is out till Monday. She will send me an answer when she returns. I have noticed a great number of searches ending up at the Crier concerning Exeter/ E.coli since my CSO post went up. I hope these searchers realize the E.coli colony count that I am asking for explanation on was in sewage and storm water, not drinking water.
UPDATE: Here is the word from DES 8/30/2011
Per Env-Wq 1703.06 (c) For combined sewer overflows that discharge into
non-tidal waters, a bacteria criteria of 1,000 Escherichia coli per 100
millimeters shall be applied at the end of the combined sewer overflow’s
discharge pipe.
The sample result exceeds Env-Wq 1703.06 (c), but is not atypical of
combined sewer overflow discharges.
As another reference point, per Chapter 485-A:8, Section II., “Class B
waters ….. shall contain not more than either a geometric mean based
on at least 3 samples obtained over a 60-day period of 126 Escherichia
coli per 100 millimeters, or greater than 406 Escherichia coli per 100
millimeters in any one sample…”
Mike
