Are you downstream from Montreal, CA?

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pot calling kettle black

GFC said:
According to the attached article, the CA government has allowed the city of Montreal to dump 8 Billion litres of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence Seaway.
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It's supposed to be a one time event to fix things for the future...something New York City should be considering, no?

http://www.newsweek.com/it-raining-nycs-raw-sewage-probably-pouring-waterways-260784

"The Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn has it especially bad. Thirteen CSO sites pour 377 million gallons of diluted raw sewage into the canal each year. The Gowanus’s mere 1.8 miles of dead-end channel constitute one of the most heavily contaminated bodies of water in the United States, and each rainstorm adds to the cesspool."
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Far downstream. lol. It's not really what we think of as sewage, human waste, that's of the concern from them doing that. More chemicals, drugs, more toxic items, that should be pretty diluted. It sounds horrible, but I think better planned than unplanned. Those of us to the south think of Montreal as sophisticated and modern. Guess what lies beneath we haven't noticed. There are a lot of cities in the world with decaying elements of their infrastructure not being adequately addressed. Amazing how bright and new we can make what's on top look, while what's beneath is old and ugly.
 
Aren't we ALL down stream of the St Lawrence seaway? OK, maybe not the Inuits amongst us......
 
I tried to put it in perspective of what it would mean to Lake Ontario. Well, Lake Ontario is 393 cubic miles. There are 1.1 trillion gallons in one cubic mile. 8 Billion Liters is just over 2.1 billion gallons.

A trillion is 1,000 billion. So 2.1 billion gallons would be 2/1000ths of one cubic mile or .002 or roughly .002 of the water in one cubic mile or roughly .000005 of it or roughly .0005%. Basically half a thousandth of a percent.

Now I have a headache. Hopefully my math is close to right. The point is I would think that it would be quite well diluted once it hits Lake Ontario. Now, even so, as squeamish as I am, I can easily say it's ok from here but if my drinking water came from Lake Ontario, all the math in the world wouldn't ease my mind. I'm sure there will be testing of water downstream. Will be interesting as to what impact it has.

Edit: And I find out from West I had it flowing the wrong way.
 
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The Saint Lawrence River (French: Fleuve Saint-Laurent; Tuscarora: Kahnawáʼkye;[3] Mohawk: Kaniatarowanenneh, meaning "big waterway") is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. The Saint Lawrence River flows in a roughly north-easterly direction, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean and forming the primary drainage outflow of the Great Lakes Basin. It traverses the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, and is part of the international boundary between Ontario, Canada, and the U.S. state of New York. This river also provides the basis of the commercial Saint Lawrence Seaway.
 
West said:
The Saint Lawrence River (French: Fleuve Saint-Laurent; Tuscarora: Kahnawáʼkye;[3] Mohawk: Kaniatarowanenneh, meaning "big waterway") is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. The Saint Lawrence River flows in a roughly north-easterly direction, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean and forming the primary drainage outflow of the Great Lakes Basin. It traverses the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, and is part of the international boundary between Ontario, Canada, and the U.S. state of New York. This river also provides the basis of the commercial Saint Lawrence Seaway.
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So you're saying it flows north, away from Lake Ontario? I never knew that. How interesting. The other river I know that does that is the Tennessee. So take all my math and divide by more trillions since it's flowing to the Atlantic Ocean.

Thanks for the education. Had I just thought a moment I would have known as I knew which way the other lakes flow. Don't know what I thought happened to the water from Lake Ontario, but now I know.
 
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The city of Victoria BC has been dumping raw sewage into Straits of Juan de Fuca forever. Now (nearly) done is a sewage treatment plant. After big hurricanes where does the crap go when the coastal treatment plants are recovering?

San Diego from time to time has a hiccup and fills the beaches as does Lima Peru. (Sh) it happens quite frequently worldwide. A look at the larger harbors in Asia can be a gruesome sight.

Thank God Montreal doesn't have the population of Shanghai, one could walk on St Lawrence before freeze up.
 
And people, even cruisers complain about what a few boats with Raritan Electroscans do to the water.
 
I'm about 70 nautical miles north-est (downstream) of Montreal. Every pleasure crafts are already winterized here. That's a good time to do that planned dumping. The St-Lawrence seaway stays open all winter for commercials but no one would be tempted to swim at this time of the year :)
Dominic
 
Greetings,
M. dv. Welcome aboard. "...no one would be tempted to swim at this time of the year..." HAH! Not now but in February...

 
dvoyer said:
I'm about 70 nautical miles north-est (downstream) of Montreal. Every pleasure crafts are already winterized here. That's a good time to do that planned dumping. The St-Lawrence seaway stays open all winter for commercials but no one would be tempted to swim at this time of the year :)
Dominic
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They've done the best they could to do it at a decent time and before it happens without intent. Tough decision, but it was a lose-lose situation and had to select the least bad of two bad options.
 
RT Firefly said:
Greetings,
M. dv. Welcome aboard. "...no one would be tempted to swim at this time of the year..." HAH! Not now but in February...

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Ha Ha Ha… well spotted !

They try very hard to avoid touching the water though !

Dominic
 
Greetings Dvoyer. I have been to your fine city several times in a land yacht. My son won the Grand Prix du Trois Riviere in 2009 and 2010. It was my favorite city on the racing circuit to visit. The fireworks display over the river on Saturday night after the race was spectacular.
 
rardoin said:
Greetings Dvoyer. I have been to your fine city several times in a land yacht. My son won the Grand Prix du Trois Riviere in 2009 and 2010. It was my favorite city on the racing circuit to visit. The fireworks display over the river on Saturday night after the race was spectacular.
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Alex in the Star Mazda class :thumb:
 
I couldn't think of a better place to "flush". Current always ebbs from Montreal, just gets weaker or stronger. By the time you are at the "Narrows" (before Quebec city) the current runs up to 8 plus knots (both ways). I had a fair tide run last Cristmas eve on a tug and was doing 18 kts briefly. Took a screen shot of the computer for proof. Maintained 15 plus knots for several hours.
 
Will that raw s#+*# hurt my engine???
 
Will that raw s#+*# hurt my engine???
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You will see nothing, smell nothing and hurt nothing.

Odor has been reported only near the dumping places. Security and environmental inspectors are present on land and on water. This operation seems to be well managed.
 
ddalme said:
Will that raw s#+*# hurt my engine???
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In Louisiana? Or are you in Montreal?

Regardless I don't see it as a threat to boats or engines unless you're right there as they open up and get flushed with it. The threat is to water supplies, including watermakers and purifiers, swimmers (not this time of year), and sealife. As to sealife, having never made a dump like this there isn't a way to absolutely know but their feelings are that it will quickly be diluted and not cause damage to sealife or the environment. A one time thing should be ok. If it was daily or they couldn't get their repairs made that might be different. That's the thing even with the relatively minor discharge from boats. It's not one boat or one time unless we're talking chemicals and poisons, but it's the cumulative effect of everything.
 
In the original post, the discharge was planned for " Oct. 18 to 25.". No reports of it being delayed, nor of any noticeable effect.
 
And will everything henceforth be known as something gate. I see this has been named "Flushgate."
 
BandB said:
In Louisiana? Or are you in Montreal?

Regardless I don't see it as a threat to boats or engines unless you're right there as they open up and get flushed with it. The threat is to water supplies, including watermakers and purifiers, swimmers (not this time of year), and sealife. As to sealife, having never made a dump like this there isn't a way to absolutely know but their feelings are that it will quickly be diluted and not cause damage to sealife or the environment. A one time thing should be ok. If it was daily or they couldn't get their repairs made that might be different. That's the thing even with the relatively minor discharge from boats. It's not one boat or one time unless we're talking chemicals and poisons, but it's the cumulative effect of everything.
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Band
I'm in Louisiana-I was just joking-I know it doesn't damage the systems on my boat-after all-in La. we get all the crap from everywhere north of us along the Mississippi, Red, Sabin and Ouachitau Rivers.
 
BandB said:
And will everything henceforth be known as something gate. I see this has been named "Flushgate."
Click to expand...
Makes for great Facebook don't it?

While I don't like for one minute how cavalier we are about consuming and waste, looking at the big picture, this is just another day in the life...happens everywhere and we'd rather just keep our heads in dark places.

Because it was planned and announced ahead of time, this particular event just got people's attention and made for good TV.
The real story should be about what is IN that sewage and the flush-a-bye culture behind it.

Who remembers the Mobro?
 
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