Whats in the water?

[Anonymous]

Whats your best guess of some of the gross stuff in that water:

on my list: sewage, gas, snakes, gators, garbage, microbes
what else can you think of that these poor people are soaking in?

 

[Sam Sagnella]

dead bodies.

 

[Dan Cook]

oil

 

[Cole McConnell]

Stolen crap. :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[B Ozanne]

It is really shiny.

 

[melley]

Floating balls of fire ants.

 

[Edward Ballou]

Think of every single thing under your kitchen sink plus the kitchen sink itself (sorry for the bad pun), multiplied by however many houses are under water.

Then think of every single thing in your basement, garage, or shed. This might include paint, oil, gas cans, glue, varnish.

Plus you have dead and decaying plant, human, and animal matter. Sewage in mass amounts.

You also have swamp life - alligators, snakes, bugs, mosquitos. Ocean life - sharks, sea lions.

Don't forget about the Loch Ness monster - he's out there too, somewhere...although Ogopogo is much more proximal to our side of the globe.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Any floodwater is dangerously contaminated, but what is in NO has to be off the charts. Just being near that water is a hazard, let alone touching it or wading/swimming in it.

 

[Cole McConnell]

People walking on streets and stepping on nails.

wow, I would not want to be there now.

 

[Anonymous]

good lord, ill take my chances with chlorine and bleach, just leave out the floating balls of fire ants!!! :shock:

 

[Anonymous]

Oil, gas, water, sludge, sewage, urine, feces, dead bodies (human, cat, dog), antifreeze, chlornie, bleach, shampoo, rotting meat and vegtables, hazardous material, alcohol, and anything else that was in some kind of container that has since been turned over, flooded, corroded, or destroyed.

EEEWWWWWWWW!!! Disgusting! Those poor people.

I saw footage of a guy who was sooo thirsty, he filled a milk jug full of that crappy water. He was getting ready to drink it when the reporter stopped him. Another cameraman gave him a clean bottle of water.

Imagine being THAT thirsty. I pray more help comes very very soon.

 

[nickgrillo]

Oil, gas, water, sludge, sewage, urine, feces, dead bodies (human, cat, dog), antifreeze, chlornie, bleach, shampoo, rotting meat and vegtables, hazardous material, alcohol, and anything else that was in some kind of container that has since been turned over, flooded, corroded, or destroyed.

EEEWWWWWWWW!!! Disgusting! Those poor people.

I saw footage of a guy who was sooo thirsty, he filled a milk jug full of that crappy water. He was getting ready to drink it when the reporter stopped him. Another cameraman gave him a clean bottle of water.

Imagine being THAT thirsty. I pray more help comes very very soon.

That's a very good thing... Because I'm sure he would have died pretty quickly by drinking that water.

 

[Joel Wright]

Some micro gastrointestinal pathogens are likely proliferating as well...

E.coli 0157:H7, listeria, salmonella, staph, enterics, you name it.

People need to avoid the flood water, as much as they can possibly anyway.

 

[cdcollura]

I saw diesel fuel, lots and lots of it, so bad you slipped after stepping in the water.

Spend the storm chase at the Arena on highway 90 between Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi and had a 25 foot surge there (with Jeff Gammons and Jim Edds).

I threw all my clothes away after chasing Katrina and being in that water.

And yes, there were bodies mixed in with boat and car remnants too. I saw it, and I do not wanna recollect it.

Too much information for me that day ;-(

 

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by Anonymous
Whats your best guess of some of the gross stuff in that water:

There are 3 pages to this article...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...5083102758.html

Even then, there may be nothing normal about New Orleans, because the floodwater, spiked with tons of contaminants ranging from heavy metals and hydrocarbons to industrial waste, human feces and the decayed remains of humans and animals, will linger nearby in the Gulf of Mexico for a decade.

"This is the worst case," Hugh B. Kaufman, a senior policy analyst at the Environmental Protection Agency, said of the toxic stew that contaminates New Orleans. "There is not enough money in the gross national product of the United States to dispose of the amount of hazardous material in the area."

{ stuff deleted }

The survey is likely to take six months. "If it were me, I wouldn't go back until there was a solid assessment of contamination of the land," Kaufman said. And even then, he added, authorities will be monitoring levels of water toxicity along the coastline for years: "There is no magic chemical that you can put in the Gulf to make heavy metals or benzene go away. You're stuck with it."