The US megadrought!

[chemgear]

I'm not sure I understand. Dumping raw sewage is okay because it gets taken it somewhere else and something dilutes it?

I mean, sewage and garbage dumps from cruise ships in the ocean are also diluted? Burning garbage would also be diluted into the atmosphere would it not?

[RobotTalk]

I think the logic is that the swift moving currents and deep ocean depths off the west coast of Vancouver island means that the sewage is quickly dispersed and diluted, so it becomes such a small part of the overall ocean that there aren't any harms associate with having a build up of sewage in, say, a confined bay. Said another way, you aren't going to have the same problems with disease and the growth of unwanted flora and fauna since it all gets swept down the west coast towards the US and quickly becomes very diliuted.

And yes, basically every ocean going ship dumps raw sewage in the ocean once it's far enough off shore (about 3 miles). They also tend to just throw their garbage overboard.

[opendoor]

And it's not like sewage treatment just makes the waste disappear. Now they just end up burying most of the biosolids in a landfill.

[Wastedyouth]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Vancouver seems to have no issues dumping their sewage into the ocean. It’s a little hypocritical I would say.

Multi-billion dollar Waste Water Treatment plant going in in the next couple years should stop this.

We are building the thermal Oxidizers for the facility.

Its going to be massive.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by chemgear

I'm not sure I understand. Dumping raw sewage is okay because it gets taken it somewhere else and something dilutes it?

I mean, sewage and garbage dumps from cruise ships in the ocean are also diluted? Burning garbage would also be diluted into the atmosphere would it not?

Because the pollution handling systems of the ocean that break down bio-matter are sufficient to handle the effluent from Victoria without a detectable change in the properties of the ocean.

We are replacing a natural system with a mechanical system. This is only required if the natural system is overwhelmed which it is not.

[djsFlames]

Oh man I'm glad I usually passed up ocean swimming on my numerous Victoria trips.

Surprised we didn't see TP'd orcas while whale watching!

[Azure]

Could be worse, you could be living in an area where the city of Winnipeg needs to dump 60 million gallons of raw sewage into the Winnipeg river system because they still can't properly figure out how plan a wastewater treatment plant so that it can function properly with the every 5 year floods that we always get.

The City of Winnipeg says it had to release 59.6 million of litres of untreated sewage into the Red River during a weekend storm or risk having it back up into the basements of homes.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manit...torm-1.6432382

[BlackArcher101]

Originally Posted by RobotTalk

I think the logic is that the swift moving currents and deep ocean depths off the west coast of Vancouver island means that the sewage is quickly dispersed

So basically.... it is moved outside of the environment, beyond the environment not into another environment.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by RobotTalk

I think the logic is that the swift moving currents and deep ocean depths off the west coast of Vancouver island means that the sewage is quickly dispersed and diluted, so it becomes such a small part of the overall ocean that there aren't any harms associate with having a build up of sewage in, say, a confined bay. Said another way, you aren't going to have the same problems with disease and the growth of unwanted flora and fauna since it all gets swept down the west coast towards the US and quickly becomes very diliuted.

And yes, basically every ocean going ship dumps raw sewage in the ocean once it's far enough off shore (about 3 miles). They also tend to just throw their garbage overboard.

Isn't that logic of it being "okay" predicated solely on being one of the few entities doing it?

I mean, somebody burning their garbage on the road or tossing it in the ocean or park is "okay" because it'll just get swept away and diluted. Or their higher than average carbon emissions from their car is okay because it'll just get diluted.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Azure

Could be worse, you could be living in an area where the city of Winnipeg needs to dump 60 million gallons of raw sewage into the Winnipeg river system because they still can't properly figure out how plan a wastewater treatment plant so that it can function properly with the every 5 year floods that we always get.



https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manit...torm-1.6432382

Montreal dumps into the St. Lawrence as well. They say it is no big deal and the environment can handle it.

[RobotTalk]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Isn't that logic of it being "okay" predicated solely on being one of the few entities doing it?

I mean, somebody burning their garbage on the road or tossing it in the ocean or park is "okay" because it'll just get swept away and diluted. Or their higher than average carbon emissions from their car is okay because it'll just get diluted.

Yes? The fact that part of the West Coast is sparsely populated probably makes it 'ok'.

Now, I'd prefer they weren't doing it but I'm not going to ignore the science that says the impact is probably minimal.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by RobotTalk

Yes? The fact that part of the West Coast is sparsely populated probably makes it 'ok'.

Now, I'd prefer they weren't doing it but I'm not going to ignore the science that says the impact is probably minimal.

They were dumping over 100 million litres of wastewater a day for the past 35 years. The peak was 2019 when it was 130 million litres a day.

I guess it's fine when it flows the eff outta there...

[Brendone]

So when it comes to waste, “we” (Victoria, Winnipeg, Montreal, etc) can pee in the pool as long as no one else (rest of the world) pees in the pool?

When it comes to emissions, we (Canada) will stop peeing in the pool, even though everyone else (insert list of worst polluting nations here) still do?

This new environmental math is very inconsistent.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Brendone

So when it comes to waste, “we” (Victoria, Winnipeg, Montreal, etc) can pee in the pool as long as no one else (rest of the world) pees in the pool?

When it comes to emissions, we (Canada) will stop peeing in the pool, even though everyone else (insert list of worst polluting nations here) still do?

This new environmental math is very inconsistent.

No,

The specific properties of the Victoria coast make it so that peeing in the pool is not detectable. If the specific properties of Canadas CO2 emissions made it not detectable then we wouldn’t need to mitigate.

This is the dumbest thing for Albertans to be mad about. We should be demanding that Victoria continue to pump raw sewage and spend the billion dollars on much more pressing environmental needs.

Follow what the scientific experts have stated for years. There is no measurable affect. Why is it so difficult for people to follow science. Albertans who continue to declare hypocrisy are the problem here. Why would expect BC to believe that Pipelines are a net good when you won’t believe that dumping in the ocean is acceptable?

[TheIronMaiden]

Unfortunately Alberta has not been immune to this drought either. It is still very dry for spring.

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by Azure

Could be worse, you could be living in an area where the city of Winnipeg needs to dump 60 million gallons of raw sewage into the Winnipeg river system because they still can't properly figure out how plan a wastewater treatment plant so that it can function properly with the every 5 year floods that we always get.



https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manit...torm-1.6432382

There is a plan in place to expand and improve the system, but it could take about 70 years to finish.

[Brendone]

Originally Posted by GGG

No,

The specific properties of the Victoria coast make it so that peeing in the pool is not detectable. If the specific properties of Canadas CO2 emissions made it not detectable then we wouldn’t need to mitigate.

This is the dumbest thing for Albertans to be mad about. We should be demanding that Victoria continue to pump raw sewage and spend the billion dollars on much more pressing environmental needs.

Follow what the scientific experts have stated for years. There is no measurable affect. Why is it so difficult for people to follow science. Albertans who continue to declare hypocrisy are the problem here. Why would expect BC to believe that Pipelines are a net good when you won’t believe that dumping in the ocean is acceptable?

So if our emissions restrictions are also proven to have zero impact at the global level, we should stop wasting time / money?

Cutting emissions and not dumping waste into the ocean are both the “right thing to do”, but we don’t stop one ‘cause no current impact, and we focus on another ‘cause “we have to do our part” when our part essentially does nothing.

I may be somewhat jaded here, but when I went to New Delhi and experienced that level of pollution, knowing other countries are as bad or worse, it left me extremely sceptical that any effort we make here will change a thing, but we still do, so why ignore other issues like dumping waste? Seems hypocritical.

[Icantwhisper]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Unfortunately Alberta has not been immune to this drought either. It is still very dry for spring.

The bow glacier isn't getting any bigger and the Bow runs pretty low in the summer to keep supporting a city of 1.3 million.
I remember taking a class in the 90's that said Calgary has the water resources to support a pop. of 1 million, anything above that will cause problems long term.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Unfortunately Alberta has not been immune to this drought either. It is still very dry for spring.

BC is already starting to look bad this year too. There have already been wildfires up near Kitwanga which has been unusually dry this spring, especially considering it is typically a pretty wet climate in that area.

I know advanced weather predictions are a lot of witch craft and voodoo, but some climate experts are predicting a repeat of last summer with record breaking heat and dryness.

[photon]

Next up is the call to build a facility to treat all the fish poop.