O.W.L. READERS
ON PARITALLY TREATED SEWAGE
We now have
TWO readers
Volume
I (1.3MB PDF) focuses
on drugs, hormone-mimicking chemicals and unpredictable
chemical reactions inside partially treated
sewage.
Volume
II (2.6MB PDF) focuses
on emerging pathogens, DNA and other biological
dangers in partially treated sewage.
Partially treated
sewage contains UNKNOWN chemical dangers. NO
ONE KNOWS what is in it due to unpredictable
chemical reactions that can take amongst the
pollutants that remain AFTER treatment. This
clear danger is called "emerging toxicants."
It is impossible for anyone to know if partially
treated sewage is safe.
Read the article
in the O.W.L. reader Volume I: Transformation
of Acetaminophen by Chlorination Produces the
Toxicants 1,4-Benzoquinone and N-Acetyl-pbenzoquinone
Imine.
What does this
mean? It means that ordinary TYLENOL® when
exposed to chlorine can produce two new poisons
neither of which entered the waste stream.
In other words, partially treated sewage JUST
SITTING THERE is making new UNPREDICTABLE poisons.
This hazardous material should never be released
into waterways or dumped on ground where it
might contaminate an underground aquifer.
It's not just
TYLENOL® that remains in partially treated
sewage. We know that both legal and illegal
DRUGS remain in partially treated sewage. What
happens when VIAGRA ® mixes with Prozac® and
all the chemo therapy drugs consumed by Sonoma
County citizens? No one has any idea, not the
Sonoma County Water Agency, not the City of
Santa Rosa or Rohnert Park not any of the major
polluters. These polluters refuse to FULLY
TREAT sewage because it's too expensive. But
it's not too expensive for people who are issued
building permits to build new toilets and build
new sinks and build new bathrooms and then
walk away with millions of dollars in profit.
Rohnert Park actually has plans to build 4,500
more houses and several million square feet
of commercial space with no better idea for
getting rid of the sewage these places will
create than dumping it in huge lakes, pouring
it into the Russian River and the Laguna de
Santa Rosa and spreading it out on groundwater
recharge land. Windsor plans to clear cut 1,500
trees to build a 26 acre lake of partially
treated sewage. Most of our cities have similar
plans all condoned by the Water Agency and
its Board of Directors, who just happen to
be the County Supervisors.
A family of chemicals
called phthalates also remain in partially
treated sewage. Phthalates mimic estrogen the
female hormone and can cause male fish to develop
egg sacks (it's in the reader). Phthalates
can, and have, deformed the genitals of male
infants. No one knows if the ill-advised use
of polluted wastewater accounts for the elevated
risk of breast cancer in Sonoma and Marin Counties,
but prudence dictates that we should know
things like this BEFORE we spread it and dump
it everywhere. If polluters do not want
to study this then simply clean up the mess
and remove the problem altogether. The choice
is clear.
What does Orange
County do? Orange County takes out ALL pollutants.
PERIOD. In fact, the water is so pure that
Orange County can safely use their FULLY TREATED
water to restore depleted groundwater reservoirs.
It's THAT pure. Orange County doesn't call
their plant a sewage treatment plant, it's
a GROUNDWATER REPLENISHMENT SYSTEM. Click
here to see the Website.
The Sonoma County
Water Agency and the cities within the county
refuse to FULLY clean sewage. It's simply cheaper
to risk your health. Instead they have plans
to dump partially treated sewage on lawns,
school yards, grape crops and into the Russian
River, the Laguna de Santa Rosa, in fact anywhere
just to get rid of it.
H.R.
Downs
President, O.W.L. Foundation
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