Is it the Supervisor's fault that the water quality in our area is hideous?
No.
Is it the Supervisor's responsibility to make sure our water quality is better than it is?
Yes.
It's everyone's responsibility. Even though the current administration may tell you that our sewer systems are "state of the art" (30 years ago it was state of the art......Pinegrove is 50 years old, and it's decrepit according to them......but 30 year old sewer pipes are "state of the art"...hah....go figure....), and the Supervisor may tell you that it's the County's responsibility, not hers.
When she issues an ultimatum through the media TO the County Water Authority to hurry up and get the sewer work done OR ELSE...she's talking about drawing lines in the sand and stuff...I kinda think to myself "Why can't she do that with the water quality too?" I would say it's a "public safety" issue. Wouldn't you? Some residents don't want to live in a town that doesn't have a state of the art community center.....but completely disregard the health of the water that surrounds 3 sides of the town? Eh....to each his own, I guess. Wants vs. needs....survey says!....blah blah blah.
Why do they tell us that the water is clean, we have state of the art sewer systems, and everything is fine?
Our beaches were recently ranked among the worst in the State. How is that possible if everything is fine and clean and state of the art?
Anyways, it seems a lot of people are concerned about the health and quality of our local waters, and since Irondequoit is bordered on 3 sides by water......I think it's a big deal. A lot more serious than not being able to mow your lawn or because there are weeds growing. (From the article)
A resident has recently sent me some information, and I'd like to share it here. Please visit the links included in the comments, as the information provided within is interesting, eye opening, and informative.
I wanted to bring to your attention an article published by the New York Times on September 13 entitled "Toxic Waters". I have included a link to both the article and an interactive map, which allows readers to investigate polluters on a state by state basis. Van Lare sewage treatment plant consistently released untreated human sewage into our waterways, but it is even worse that we thought. Van Lare has had 26 EPA violations since 2007 and has not been in full compliance in the past three years. The article recognizes that untreated sewage overflow is a major problem in NYS. The map allows you to recognize other polluters in our region which are too numerous to list.
The current politicians on the state, county and local levels have done nothing to protect our waterways and health. Instead, Mayor Duffy received a variance from the Health Department, which would continue to allow people to swim at Durand beach without posting a sign informing them of sewage runoff after heavy rains. Louise Slaughter's office insisted these discharges did not happen. Van Lare has said the high bacteria levels which consistently close our beaches are due to raccoons living in the sewer pipes.
(Yours truly here.......Raccoon poop? Are you *#$(&*@ serious, Van Lare?! So, we should just ignore this poop because it came out of an animals butt? Isn't it still.......poop?!?!)
President Obama has authorized federal funds for the Great Lakes Initiative. This program is designed to clean up the Great Lakes areas, but we will be unable to tap into these funds if our politicians refuse admit that we have pollution problems.
I urge every one of you to contact your local, state and federal representative-REPEATEDLY. You can access their phones and e-mails directly through the NYS government, US government or local municipality website. Please pass this onto your friends and neighbors. Let your politicians know that it is unacceptable that they knowingly allow their constituents to swim in sewage. Let them know the key to our economic revitalization is developing a waterfront area people could and would use!
Interactive Map.
NY Times article.
NYT Series.
Here is another e-mail and more links with info:
Hello there,
I am going to give you a little background here, just in case you are not familiar. The Great Lakes Initiative is a federal government inquiry group formed about 30 years ago (I think). It was comprised of a panel of scientists whose job was to investigate basically why the Great Lakes are so filthy and what we should do about it. Okay, fast forward, study complete - we know where the pollutants are coming from and how they affect the water quality and peoples health. The problem becomes the federal government gives no monies to facilitate clean up. Administrations pass by and by, no money. In 1995 the surrounding states and the EPA began working on a plan for full fledged clean up, but without money I am not sure how much progress is actually going to be accomplished. Anyhow, Obama has now authorized $474 million dollars. Now, this is kind-of funny because I can imagine that's what upstate NY needs on its own.
The EPA listed specific "Areas of Concern" (AOCs) in the Great Lakes - these being the areas of moderate to serious pollution with definite consequence to people and surrounding environment. Here is a link to the Embayment study. If you scroll down you will notice that they have known since 1981 what the problems are but have developed no remedial action plan. You will also notice that Rochester suffers from 12 of 14 possible ways degredation influences our environment.
Link to Rochester Embayment Area of Concern.
I am also including the map of the areas of concern which are in the US.
What is interesting about this map is that there are a total of 31 AOCs in the US. Six are in NYS and five of those 6 are in upstate NY. So, overall roughly 20 percent of AOCs are in NYS and of those 80% are located in upstate NY. So, that begs the question what the hell are all these politicians who claim to care about the environment doing to get funds to remediate this situation.
As you can see on the map, the Embayment is a depression and enclosed area in the lake, naturally occurring. What this means is that when we as a community dump sewage and chemicals off our shores, they don't all escape and mix with the entire rest of the lake but rather become trapped in the embayment and literally just keep swishing around in there (hhmm, kind-of like a giant toilet bowl). People from Irondequoit draw their drinking water from the lake.
So what does that mean? That means the potential for a massive contamination of our drinking water supply is possible. Our water treatment is not state of the art. Milwaukee had an outbreak of a protozoa in the late 1990s in their drinking water supply. This protozoa is called cryptosporidium. It occurs in sewage and there was a contamination of the drinking water via a bloom (people speak- sh*t water seeped into a pipe that was supposed to have only clean water) Over 400,000 people were sickened and about 120 died. Some of what contributed to this problem is that cryptosporidium is impervious to chlorine, which is what is mostly used to cleanse drinking water. Milwaukee then went to system which bubbles ozone gas through the drinking water. Here are two links about the outbreak:
About Milwaukee contamination - cryptosporidium.
NEJM article about cryptosporidium.
Bottom line, at this point, I am sick of people who claim to know something (Aldersley) trying to con citizens about what is really happening literally in their own backyards.
Thank you to this concerned resident for sharing this information.
Perhaps one of the candidates will take it upon themselves to realize that the health of our water is a concern of many constituents?
One already did....but he was laughed at, ridiculed, insulted for this opinion - and wasn't chosen as the Dem puppet this primary.
I think this is an important issue. It could be ignored, or justified, or explained away as "not their problem" (like the current administration is doing)....or maybe we could have a strong woman step up to the plate and "draw a line in the sand" that points to our filthy water?
Mary Joyce? Are you reading?
