[Coral-List] It's hard for coral reefs to flourish in a toilet bowl.

[GlennPatton]

It's hard for coral reefs to flourish in a toilet bowl.  

 

If you want healthy coral reefs and an overall healthy environment, you have
to have a healthy economy.  USA $16,000,000,000,000.00 in debt?  

When millions of people around the world can't afford a flush toilet and the
governments/people cannot afford to eliminate ocean out falls, the world's
coral reefs and oceans will continue to suffer. 

http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/18/bringing-toilets-and-dignity-to-ind
ias-poor/
<http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/18/bringing-toilets-and-dignity-to-in
dias-poor/?iref=allsearch>    if this link is not good.  Just Google CNN,
India, flush toilets.

"According to the World Health Organization, open areas are the only toilet
option for an estimated 625 million Indians. A recent government census
showed nearly half of India's households do not have a toilet, but more
people own a mobile phone - 53.2% of Indians have a mobile phone compared to
46.9% with lavatories."

 

It seems to me that cleaning up the world's wastewater problem should be the
highest priority and the most cost effective means of protect coral reefs
and the world's oceans.

 

According to numerous polls Climate change is a low priority for a lot of
people, a lot of people doubt that it's even happening.  For many it is not
settled science.  They don't feel empowered to do much about it because it
would be extraordinarily expensive.  But there is no doubt that the world
uses the oceans is a toilet bowl.  

 

www.dep.state.fl.us/water/wastewater/docs/ocean-outfall-2010.pdf

Implementation of Chapter 2008-232, Laws of Florida Domestic Wastewater
Ocean Outfalls 

2010 Annual Report    See page 14

 

Just in South Florida eight outfalls dump 296.5 million gallons of
wastewater per day in the ocean.  This wastewater contains of 44,111 pounds
per day or 22.06 tons per day of nitrogen loading.  And it contains 3977
pounds or 1.99 tons of phosphorus per day.

 

Everyone on the coral list laments that the Aquarius base is unfunded, as do
I.  But did you know that there's no proper toilet facility in the Aquarius
base.  Did you know that the aquanauts have to defecate directly into the
ocean while in the gazebo.  I talked to several aquanauts about this and
they joke about the fact the fish go wild when they are doing their
business.  I also talk to former superintendent of the Florida Keys National
Marine Sanctuary about this and he said it was too expensive to put a proper
wastewater facility in Aquarius.  Go figure!

 

It doesn't take a marine scientist to figure out that it is hard for coral
reefs to flourish in a toilet bowl.

 

 

Best Regards

 

Glenn Patton

 <http://www.glennpatton.com> www.glennpatton.com