Tuesday, October 02, 2012

I'm not a luddite, but

The Navaho and Hopi and a dozen other tribes are ticked with Arizona Snowbowl, which plans to use effluent (somewhat treated) to create snow this year. We
are assured that "the treated water meets the highest standards — just below drinking water" and some reports suggest that the snow machines will use a mix of treated and fresh water instead of 100% treated. The story emerged last year but this Feb a judge said it was OK to go ahead with using the treated water in the snow mix.

I tend to de-weight Indian claims of sacred territory. Treat that as a moral failing if you like. Nevertheless I think I'm on their side this time, even if it is the losing side again.

There's no research I know of showing effects on humans, but various studies show deleterious effects on fish and roaches from estrogenic chemicals. What the effects of elavil and darvon residues are is anybody's guess at this point. One also finds caffeine at rates up to micrograms/liter. Those are small concentrations, but when the organism is young small concentrations matter. Slosh the mix on the mountains, pour it down the streams: we're conducting a grand experiment on the waterways; and on ourselves for that matter. I won't go so far as the say the mountains are especially sacred, but I do think this isn't wise.

Does anybody know what work is being done to clean these things out of the water?


Apparently one can even measure drug abuse rates in a city by measuring residues in treated sewage.

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