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Spirit of Ma'at: "The Water of Life" — Vol 3 No 5 with JoAnn Burkholder, PhD, Nancy Rabalais, PhD, and Pamela Blockey O'Brien by Julia Griffin
Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink...?[1] This may be the scenario of the future if we don't take a closer look at water and how we are polluting it.
Water is one of our most precious resources. We would die in less than a week without water. Run-off water is considered to be one of the greatest pollutants in the water cycle, containing nuclear wastes, antibiotics, sewage from human waste, nitrogen and manure from farms, and industrial waste from factories. Rain washes many of these wastes into the groundwater, streams, rivers, and finally the ocean, causing huge growth of algae (eutrophication) and dinoflagellates such as pfiesteria, which can harm the human nervous system. Much of the ocean is polluted from nuclear testing and wastes. Spills from oil float on top of the water, causing more pollution. Acid rain falls into rivers, lakes and streams, reducing or killing aquatic life in areas with little sedimentary rock, as the pH balance becomes more disturbed.[2] Pfiesteria "Red tides" are common off the coast of North Carolina. They are composed of dinoflagellates: tiny microscopic organisms that are part of plankton and are usually harmless. But pfiesteria is a dinoflagellate that actually attacks fish and even the neurological system of human beings who have been exposed to it. Human waste and manure, mainly from hog farms in North Carolina, cause the growth of pfiesteria. It has been the cause of death of thousands of fish off the shore of North Carolina. It can also cause serious neurological damage and other physical problems ranging from lesions, shortness of breath, and leg sores to humans who are exposed to it.[3] When Dr. Steven Smith and Dr. Ed Noga filled an aquarium with water from the Palmico River in North Carolina, the fish began to die. Dr. JoAnn Burkholder, co-discoverer of pfiesteria, describes the event: "The fish were dying, and we didn't know the reason. We tested for many known causes, such as pollutants, bacteria or pathogens — but we discovered pfiesteria. "It was difficult, because it would actually attack and kill the fish, sometimes leaving lesions. After killing the fish, the pfiesteria disappeared. We found that it was moving into the sediment, waiting for the next opportunity to attack. It was interesting because the pfiesteria would appear in the water, appear in the dying fish — and then disappear. "We know now that it is a dinoflagellate, meaning that it is neither plant nor animal. Pfeisteria can be predatory, like an animal, or can photosynthesize, like a plant. Many dinoflagellates create poisons to prevent fish from eating them. Pfiesteria uses its poison to attack fish and is unusual in that it displays animal-like behavior as opposed to plant-like behavior." As she worked with the toxin, Dr. Burkholder experienced severe neurological symptoms. But the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) does not endorse her conclusion that her symptoms were a result of exposure to pfiesteria. "Unfortunately," Dr. Burkholder said, "I was one of the people who experienced the impact of the pfiesteria toxin on human health. I only have varied visual memories of the event. I had been working with toxin and fish for one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon for five weeks. There were several aquaria that were covered, and I was working with only small amounts of toxins. So there was not great deal of exposure. "This particular day I had been working for about four hours with the fish and toxin. One of my colleagues dropped something on the floor, and I began screaming loudly. My eyes started burning, and I did something I never would have done normally: I rubbed my eyes while still wearing dripping wet gloves. My gloves were wet from handling the fish. "They believe exposure to the toxin made me lose my ability to know that something was wrong. By the time I was on the elevator, I had doubled over from excruciating muscle spasms. Later, there was a narcotizing effect. "I remained in the hospital for eight days. Slowly, I began to be able to find words again, to speak in sentences, and to regain my memory. The most terrifying part of this I can only compare to Alzheimer's — I would have periods of clarity when I knew that something was terribly, terribly wrong. And this in itself was terrifying. "As time went on, I regained my memory and my ability to speak. I was told that the neurons grow back around the areas that have been damaged. "The CDC took all of this with a grain of salt. They say there's no conclusive evidence that pfiesteria causes serious effects. "It is true that it is very difficult to isolate enough of the pfiesteria toxin to run a series of conclusive tests to establish a PCB count in the blood, but I said to them, 'I am only 37 years old. It's not normal for me have this type of memory loss.' "Other people in the field, such as fishermen in Maryland, have had similar neurological side effects. There is a time element that links these events — the area, the fish with pfiesteria, the exposure to the toxin. Again, this is not thought to be a compelling argument." What can be done about pfiesteria since we know that it causes such damage? Burkholder says that hurricanes beat it back, but reducing sewage through run-off and increasing the efficiency of treatment plants is a start. The Dead Zone In some areas, the ocean is dying. All aquatic life leaves the area for much of the year. These areas are called "dead zones" and are caused by run-off of farm fertilizers. One dead zone can be found in the Gulf of Mexico. This zone as large as the state of New Jersey.[4] Nancy Rablais is one of the leading experts on this Dead Zone. She helped map the dead zone in 1985. She speaks about her experience of discovering its immense size: "I was amazed by the size of it when we mapped it in 1985. Fishermen and other scientists had spoken about it, but we only knew about portions of it. We had no idea that it was so immense. I was shocked, and I thought, 'Why doesn't the public know about this? How could there be such a huge dead zone, and no one knows about it?' I wanted to get the information to the public. I wanted to find out what could be done. I felt this urge as a scientist to collect all of the information I possibly could and try to find an answer for the problem. "The Dead Zone is literally a huge area, 7,700 to 8,000 square miles, without life. If you could see into all of the layers of the water, you would find little there. If I were scuba diving, I would expect to see layers of life, with the fast swimmers near the surface and the slow-moving creatures at the bottom. In the Dead Zone, the fast swimmers, like sharks and red snapper, leave first. This is because of their oxygen requirements. The bottom swimmers, like shrimp, worms, and crabs, will try to leave as the nitrogen level becomes higher. They will swim to the top and try to get away. The aquatic life in the sediment dies last. "This is all related to nitrogen levels. No one knew about hypoxia in 1985. We weren't sure if it was a natural process or caused by run-off into Mississippi. As we took core samples, we found that hypoxia did relate to nitrogen levels and farmland use. "Hypoxia occurs mainly in the spring because of the rain and washing of crop fertilizer into streams and rivers. In the 1950s, farmers radically increased their use of fertilizers and chemicals. We have taken core samples that go back to the turn of the century, and hypoxia simply didn't exist then. Hypoxia corresponds to the increased use of farm chemicals. "In the past, wetlands would have converted some of the nitrogen, but the wetlands have been converted into farmland, so this buffer is no longer available. "The Dead Zone does affect fisheries. It increases their costs for gasoline because they have to go further offshore to fish. It affects recreational fishing as well, through the loss of biodiversity, loss of abundance, and loss of species. "I'm more concerned about the cycling of nutrients' being out of kilter and the long-range effect on the ecosystem. We don't know what the cost is of a poorly-functioning ecosystem. For instance, we drink water out of the Mississippi. If we couldn't, then what would be the cost? We don't know, because we haven't experienced it. "I don't think it is necessary to go into crisis. I'm a scientist, and when I see something like the Dead Zone, I want to solve it. I think the point of being a scientist is to find a solution to environmental problems and to let the public know about it. I'm committed to resolution of this. We have to believe in hope." Nuclear Waste Water pollution from nuclear waste is massive. The nuclear testing in the ocean contributes to global warming as well as to the increase of temperature in the Pacific Ocean. Nuclear wastes from hospitals run down sinks and toilets into the water system. Nuclear plants release plutonium, strontium-10, cecium-137 and uranium-27 into the water that cool the system. This water is then released into streams, lakes, and aquifers. Evaporated water from the heating process at a nuclear power plant contains the same chemicals, and it falls from the sky as rain. It filters through the earth, leaving radioactive materials with a half-life of at least two hundred years, and taking some of the radioactivity on its course to accumulate in underground streams and reservoirs. All of these chemicals accumulate from rain and movement of rivers into the world's oceans that are now polluted by radioactivity.[5] Pamela Blockey O'Brien has worked for 38 years as an environmentalist interested in nuclear issues. She speaks about the Savannah River Nuclear Plant in Augusta, Georgia, where nuclear arms are manufactured. Most of the issues she discusses relate to nuclear weapon plants throughout the world and many to nuclear power plants. "Like all nuclear plants, the Savannah River Nuclear Site — I like to call it the Death of the Earth Squad or the Radioactive Blob from Hell — causes incredible water pollution. Every drop of water it heats is contaminated. Every drop of water it releases is contaminated. "The nuclear plants have their own environmental squads that are funded by the state. All the information I share is from what "they" — Rich Gibbons is their favorite "fake scientist" — have gathered. You can draw your own conclusion about its accuracy and whether or not you think it may be minimized. "They like to locate power plants over an aquifer because plants need lots of water. This plant is located over a very large aquifer that provides water for a very large area in the Eastern part of the state. They experimented at one time and dug holes four thousand feet deep into the aquifer. They thought that this might be a good idea for storing wastes, so they carefully wrapped up the nuclear wastes and put them into the aquifer. Of course, this was years ago, but they are still there and polluting things. "The polluting fuel cycle from nuclear plants begins with the mining of uranium. The run-off from the piles of unused or remaining uranium pollutes the groundwater and runs into the rivers. The enrichment of the uranium — the process of preparing uranium so that the atom can be split — causes toxic chemicals such as fluorine gas to be released into the atmosphere. The toxic chemicals, of course, fall to earth in the rain and pollute creeks, streams, and rivers. "The nuclear waste or chemicals are unlike anything on the face of the earth. The seriousness of the effects of the nuclear waste in the water system from the Savannah River plant, or from any nuclear plant, can vary from mental retardation, cancer, genetic mutations, and repressed immune system response. "Unlike anything else on the face of the earth, you cannot clean up or render harmless nuclear waste, nor can you dilute it. It can only be contained by shielding and storing it until it decays through numerous half-lives to its original, stable form. "They say something only has a half-life of 10 years, but this means that it is active from one to two hundred years. It must be stored in a dry place, so they bury it somewhere on the seventy-nine acres of the plant site and cover it with earth — except for the experiment in the aquifer beneath the plant. "If it is this dangerous, then why is it in the water? In nature, we measure radioactivity in pico-Curies. A safe level in nature ranges from 8 to 20 pico-Curies in a liter of water. They have set a safe level for the water in and around the Savannah River, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean, as 20,000 pico-Curies in a liter of water. This helps out the industry, you see. They, the government regulators, set the levels so that it will help out. "The Savannah River Nuclear Site admits to having released one million five hundred Curies (a pico-Curie is one trilliliter of a Curie) of tritium into the River. Approximately 41 percent of this cell-smashing material is now in the Atlantic Ocean. "There are also genetic mutations. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution documented the strange kittens that were born there, calling them Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Isn't that cute? There are many other mutated animals. Three-legged owls were born there. This isn't uncommon. The wildlife comes and goes onto the site. The environmental staff probably thinks that it is pretty. The ducks and birds from all over the world migrate and rest in numerous 'hot' ponds on the site, then they go somewhere and die, or go back home to South America and take their contamination home with them. "If we want clean water, we simply have to clean up nuclear wastes. It doesn't do a thing to clean up the rest of the water in the world without doing something about nuclear energy. And every country that can afford it will soon have nuclear energy and weapons plants. They will pollute their water in the same manner." Other Sources of Water Pollution Acid rain damages forests, soil, fish, other living organisms, and human health. It also reduces our ability to see through the air. This is known as "visibility reduction." The cause of acid rain is sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, mostly created by electric power generation that relies on burning fossil fuels like coal. The acid rain occurs when the gases react in the atmosphere with water and oxygen to form acidic compounds. Sunlight increases the rate of reaction, and so a mild solution of sulfuric acid and nitric acid falls to the earth through the rain.[6] Lakes that have been acidified do not support a wide variety of life. Bottom feeders such as clams or crayfish disappear first, then plankton, fish, and water birds. The amount of limestone or sedimentary rock determines the acidity of the lake, because the lime in sedimentary rock neutralizes the acid. Acid rain has more effect in Canada, where there is little sedimentary rock. Also, where there is little sedimentary rock, aluminum is leached from the soil, a toxic heavy metal that interferes with transport of oxygen in fish. Acid rain not only kills off species, it alters and decreases the food supply for higher fauna. Predatory birds that eat fish affected by acidic rain end up with a high concentration of aluminum. Their eggs will have soft shells and their young will rarely survive.[7] Antibiotics are found in wells and public water. This is believed to be from human waste that is not properly treated in water plants. While the water is filtered, not all traces of antibiotics are removed. Farmers feed their cattle and hogs antibiotics to reduce bacterial infections and disease. Manure that is antibiotic laden from the farms runs off into streams and rivers. Antibiotics have been found in the Ohio River, the drinking water in Wheeling, West Virginia, and in Neuse River in North Carolina. Scientists fear that antibiotics in drinking water will help to create superbugs: microorganisms that evolved to survive antibiotics.[8] The effects of disease in marine species point to the degradation of the coastal habitat. Increased residential, recreational, and commercial development continues to erode the coastal habitat. The Southern sea otter found in California has declined by twelve percent. Reports of infectious disease in marine birds are linked to exposure to sewage pollution and chemical contaminants. Marine turtles are known to have fibropapillomatosis, a disease that causes tumor-like growths and is associated with areas of concentrated pollution. Coral reefs show signs of coral bleaching and have begun to harbor disease that is believed to be the result of global warming.[9] The water in the United States is a disgrace. Forty percent of it is not swimmable or fishable. Fifty major cities in the United States are out of compliance because of money. We look at water as something to deal with when we have money "left over." The main cause of our water problems is our own ignorance. No one knows or bothers to learn about the contaminants in our water. Taking care of water is one of our last priorities. It should be one of our first.
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