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Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Environment - Floodwaters now "laced with raw sewage, bacteria, heavy metals, pesticides and toxic chemicals"

Updatig the ILB entry from Monday on the environmental impact of Hurrican Katrina are a number of stories today.

"Katrina Environmental Issues 'Almost Unimaginable': BATON ROUGE - Hurricane Katrina left behind a landscape of oil spills, leaking gas lines, damaged sewage plants and tainted water, Louisiana's top environment official said on Tuesday." is the headline to this Reuters story.

"Water Returned to Lake Contains Toxic Material" is the headline to this story in the NY Times. Some quotes:

BATON ROUGE, La., Sept. 6 - While the human and economic toll of Hurricane Katrina continued to mount, New Orleans was beginning to pump back into Lake Pontchartrain the floodwaters that had inundated the city.

But this is not the same water that flooded the city. What started flowing back into the lake on Monday and continued spilling into it Tuesday is laced with raw sewage, bacteria, heavy metals, pesticides and toxic chemicals, Louisiana officials said on Tuesday.

The Washington Post reports:
The dank and putrid floodwaters choking this once-gracious city are so poisoned with gasoline, industrial chemicals, feces and other contaminants that even casual contact is hazardous, and safe drinking water may not be available for the entire population for years to come, state and federal officials warned Tuesday.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 7, 2005 08:40 AM
Posted to Environment