There's poo-poo in the bayou
The Chronicle's Lisa Jackson reports on a nasty mess Houston is trying to clean up:
City of Houston environmental investigators are keeping tabs on a hot spot at the junction of Country Club Bayou and Brays Bayou that has shown high levels of escherichia coli bacteria in recent water quality test samples.
E.coli, a common type of bacteria, is found in the feces of humans and warm-blooded animals.
Its presence in water generally indicates fecal contamination.
Reni Millar, an Idylwood resident and community leader, said she contacted the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and city of Houston in mid-January after a second dead beaver was discovered at the Gus Wortham Golf Course.
Millar said she also reported seeing a massive amount of sewage pouring out of a storm drain from Capitol Avenue into those waterways.
"I asked for an investigation regarding the dead beaver and water quality," Millar said.
Lisa Groves, an investigator with the city of Houston's bureau of public health engineering department, said water quality tests taken in mid-January showed that the levels of E.coli at that location were higher than the acceptable standard for "contact recreation."
When the levels are above the acceptable level — 394 E.coli per 100 milliliters — waters are not safe for swimming or boating activities.
The Country Club/Brays Bayou test results showed levels at 39,000 E.coli/100 milliliters, Groves said.
Investigators immediately launched efforts to locate the source of the contamination, Groves said. Since high levels of E.coli are associated with sewage and or/pesticides in the water, they worked with the city of Houston's Public Works department to investigate local sewer lines to determine if there were breaks or back-ups in those lines.
She said public works employees cleared a stoppage in a sewer line, which halted the overflow of sewage from the Capitol Avenue area.
They also identified two broken lines, and are working on those repairs.
With all of Mayor White's soaring rhetoric about Houston going "green," we think he needs to focus on keeping Houston from going brown! We all know the mayor wants a new soccer stadium and a new soccer field complex and another convention center hotel, but Houstonians don't want sewage in the bayous.
You may recall back in 2005 when Houston was fined $1 million for "unauthorized discharges from 11 of its wastewater treatment plants." Ewwwww!
In the end, here's the city's advice to Houstonians:
Groves said that residents should report unusual odors, water discoloration, sewage sighting and other water quality concerns to the city of Houston's 3-1-1 service line.
Call 311? Good luck with that.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: Now that Mayor White has enthusiastically endorsed the idea of suing surrounding communities because we don't like their industrial emissions (we have to admit, it's easier than making tough, expensive choices about infrastructure maintenance and improvements in our own city -- leadership, in other words), will he be as open to surrounding communities suing the City of Houston for polluting the bayous? Just curious.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/29/08 07:51 PM | Print |
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