By oihmurtk knsxuifl

June 26, 2007 9:08 PM | Link to this

ehnjw ewomv cstmfvk zhxdrmkgj uypq kghbfnlc ozhqb

By orah

June 19, 2007 11:41 PM | Link to this

ORAH- bout time someone called him out, how about it wastewater guru ? Who do you work for and just what are your credentials BIG MOUTH ?

By Who R U ?

June 19, 2007 11:28 PM | Link to this

Dear Wastewaterguru- I have been following this carefully, and I think you sure are a cocky, verbal individual on this subject, so I am calling you out… Just who is it that you work for, (I am betting some one who stands to lose some money if this project doesn’t go forward as the city wants), and just what are your credentials that let you state with such authority that the masses of people responding to this isssue are ignorant laymen ? Are you a Scuba Diver ? Hmmm? Because if you don’t have up close, first hand visual expierence with the impacts to our reefs I say you are the ignorant one, with an adavanced degree in B.S. to add to your evident self proclaimed water expertise. And Yes, I stand high and proud atop my soapbox, spouting my concerned and intelligent opinion,(and admittedly I am less than 100% informed- and isn’t that the problem here, a lack of information and research all around), beacause my humble podium stands in the middle of my organicaly maintained and xeriscaped yard, just outside the door to my energy effcient improved home with the once a day flushed toilets ! So with out your cheap insults, i invite you to answer…

By Lawrence Korn

June 19, 2007 3:48 PM | Link to this

This is in response to the Article dated 06/19/07 for the permit to allow the City of Lake Worth to discharge it’s RO reject water using an old sewer discharge pipe. Everyone with any science back ground knows that the solution to pollution is definitely not dilution. This seems to be the assumption that the nutrients left in reverse osmosis (RO) reject water will not be harmful to the environment. Having experience in the environmental field for almost 30 years in S. Florida I have see discharges of trichloroethylene into the Indian River, chemicals from Solitron Electronic Devices into our aquifers, and literally hundreds of issues which have come up after the fact which we could not do anything about. Now we have an issue where we will permit Lake Worth to actually pollute legally. I am appalled at this information in today’s newspaper. We all know that our reefs serve many purposes including BARRIER beach protection, nurseries for aquatic organisms, complex food chains for our commercial and recreational fishing, and probably some answers to cures for cancer we have not discovered yet. Now we are going to go on a hunch that this discharge will not affect the reefs. I say stop. Please stop. It is bad enough that we cannot prove that the underwater vents far off shore contain contaminants from our deep well injection of secondary treated wastewater. It is not enough that we cannot do anything about the runoff from homes, agriculture and industry into our coastal waterways which definitely reach the reefs off shore. I believe that the cumulative affect from all these poisons are causing detrimental consequences to our coastal reef communities. Don’t we need to go in the opposite direction? Try and fix these issues one at a time? Why don’t we discharge these contaminants on land? Are they too concentrated? Is dilution the solution? I don’t think so. Is using a wetland for the discharge feasible, they do it with wastewater? I am an environmental science teacher who tries to convey a positive outlook for our students and environmental stewards of the future. We try and convey a positive future where we are making progress for a cleaner water and air. This will only lead the way for other municipalities to discharge their reject water in the future while we are trying to mitigate issues from the past. I say dismantle the pipe and stop discharging any effluents in the future for it is bad enough the discharges we have that we cannot do anything about. “We want to do what is right for the environment.” Jo-Ann Golden said. (localnewsPBpost6/19/07) So lets leave the environment alone. It has enough issues to worry about.

Lawrence Korn

By Think

June 19, 2007 1:28 PM | Link to this

$6 per month…that’s all the average water user in Lake Worth will save by having the waste water pumped out near Horseshoe Reef as opposed to other methods like deep well injection. This is from Lake Worth’s public utilities manager himself.

That’s laughable! $6 per month per user and the City of Lake Worth is willing to contribute to the destruction of the last remaining live coral reef along this stretch of coastline.

Lake Worth’s identity and cultural history are based upon it’s proximity to the coast, fishing, diving, and “beach lifestyle.” The City must think long term toward sustainable solutions and base such important decisions on how they will affect future generations - not just dollars and cents.

By LakeWorthGhost

June 19, 2007 11:06 AM | Link to this

Wes Blackman has great info on his blog about this and the beach! Wes is the former chairman of the LW P&Z anonymous.528e79991a@anonymousspeech.com

By LakeWorthGhost

June 19, 2007 11:05 AM | Link to this

Wes Blackman has great info on his blog about this and the beach! Wes is the former chairman of the LW P&Z anonymous.528e79991a@anonymousspeech.com

By Your Mother

June 19, 2007 9:00 AM | Link to this

At the public meeting FDEP wastewater permit writer Tim Powell asked for more public comment on this issue. He wants to hear from you. He requested your personal emails be sent directly to him and not from the Reef Rescue preformatted email sender.

You can send your personal comment to Tim Powell at: Tim.Powell@dep.state.fl.us

By Jeff Clemens and the Chamber are in da house

June 19, 2007 8:05 AM | Link to this

All you people who voted Vespo,Lowe, Jeff Clemens and the new Lake Worth mafia, are you happpy now? Seriously. Beach parking wiped out, Starbucks on the beach, unbridled development. Ah back to the days of Romano.

At least Marc Drautz would have stopped this crap. These guys got elected saying Marc has done nothing. He was too busy stopping all this crap to do anything.

By Tom Pearce

June 19, 2007 8:00 AM | Link to this

As someone who worked for an organization (www.kftc.org Kentuckians For THe Commonwealth) that used the clean water act to stop the dumping of rubble left from the process of Mountaintop Removal in Kentucky (The dirtiest coal mining method known), into our streams and rivers?

After Bush came in it was just that. An Act. A federal judge stopped the practice. Bush appointed a new judge and had it thrown out.

As popular as lil Bush and his Bro arre in Florida I can tell you first hand that clean water means nothing ot this state or the federal govermnet. They just made it harder for wetlands to qualify as protected. Been to Wyoming or Montana lately? Where our pristine parks and national forests are being stripped and fas wells are going up every five feet? You used to look out on a Wyoming night and see stars. Now you see Methane exhaust burning all over the plain. How beautifil Bush has been for us. They are also allowing oil derricks closer and closer to Florida’s coast line. FPL wants to build you “CLEAN COAL” energy. Clean my a*s.

By WB

June 19, 2007 7:40 AM | Link to this

If the evironmentalists think that this is such a grave issue, let them fork up the 9 million for deep well injection or whatever the cost to extend the discharge line farther out towards the Gulf Stream.

By boycott city of lake worth

June 19, 2007 6:07 AM | Link to this

we will stop doing any busniess with city of lake worth if sewer pipe is re opened

By gator96

June 18, 2007 9:33 PM | Link to this

i am sure that the DEP and local gov’t strongly believes that the effluent will not harm the reef, but many decisions like this usually have unintended consequences nobody ever thought of. it is not worth the risk to the reef. Add another couple of miles to the pipe and pump it into the gulf stream where it will be diluted.

By Hydrogeologist

June 18, 2007 9:12 PM | Link to this

Ahem. As an environmental consultant for the last twenty years working in the fields of groundwater and estuary contamination remediation I feel comfortable saying that this is one of the worst ideas among many really bad ones that has surfaced in a long time. We are supposed to be stewards and we are not fulfilling that role. Please everyone, check your facts, the Floridan Aquifer is not our drinking water supply and the State has regularly deep well injected untreated effluent there for years under the DEP given impression that it is a closed, or artesian, system. The problem is that there are fissures (as in every artesian system hence “springs”) where this effluent makes its way into our oceans, causing algae blooms which is the food of… thimble jellyfish (sea-lice). So r.o. effluent can well be expected to do the same. Not only will this harm the reef as stated but, on prevailing tides and trades, the effluent, algae, and all that feeds on it, will come to shore. So to those who say let the scientists deal with it and the general public knows nothing… I’m afraid you are wrong. The environmentalist organizations such as Surfrider Foundation have top scientists available to them - they are not that old image of worn out hippies crying save this and save that with no basis but inherent value as their rationale.

By wastewater guru

June 18, 2007 8:57 PM | Link to this

Roberto,

Please use spell check.

Thanks.

By wastewater guru

June 18, 2007 8:52 PM | Link to this

Fred,

You are obviously an expert, so please tell me, what does the Clean Water Act state about harming receiving waters. Also can you please state what the background levels of Nitrate. Nitrite, and Ammonia are for the receiving waters are? What is the trigger point for algae growth. Are you using a Mass Balance calculation? What is your rationale for your stating your expertise in this area?

By Roberto

June 18, 2007 8:45 PM | Link to this

Why can people just grow up. Stop the name calling and let have an educated discussion. There is a lot riding on this discussion. I want my kids to be able to swim at lake worth beach. We live here and I happen to be an educated concious citizen. There is not enough research on the impact that the dischatrge will do to the reef. Bur, we now for a fact that if algae bloom on the reef, it will died. Let the research prove the benefits or the cons. So far it seems that the reef and the beach need our protection. Once the reef is gone, game over.

By Fred

June 18, 2007 8:19 PM | Link to this

wastewater guru wrote: “once again a bunch of idiots are talking about a subject they know nothing about”

Sorry, it’s open season.

When one does a good job in business or in government, there is no need to discuss a topic at length.

Please list all relevant recent “success stories” in this area of water/sewage management so we can recommend the appropriate bonuses?

When it comes down to newspaper readers having to help these “experts” do their jobs, yes, you are correct, we do have a problem here!

By Glenn Langford

June 18, 2007 7:58 PM | Link to this

in 1959 I helped build an sewerage outfall pipe that extends out from the Lake Worth pier to a water depth of 100 feet. This is a little over a mile out. The way to find the end of it is to look for cigarette filters that float to the top. We also built one in WPB in 1956, one in Miami in 1986 and another company built one in Deerfield. They (to my knowledge) worked just fine and did not harm the reefs. This makes alot more sense than polluting the aquifier.

By wastewater guru

June 18, 2007 7:08 PM | Link to this

Once again a bunch of idiots are talking about a subject they know nothing about. Leave the city alone, DEP alone, and let them do their job! These people are public servants doing a great job. SAVE YOUR PREACHING FOR SUNDAY’S!

By Fred

June 18, 2007 6:04 PM | Link to this

It seems too many small municipalities in this area make “last minute” water/sewage decisions that are very poorly planned.

Cities the size of Lake Worth are not staffed properly to be competent in this field. We need such planning at a regional/state level, and we need it done years in advance.

The recent problems in WPB illustrate that even a much larger city is not able to make proper, proactive decisions in this area, instead, subjecting its residents to drinking sewage so that the Sunfest might not be cancelled.

By CopySix

June 18, 2007 8:40 AM | Link to this

I am glad that an informed discussion is taking place. What is unwanted is uniformed opinions and wild conjecture. Everyone has the right to facts, figures and a scientific evaluation of possible adverse effects. No permit should be issued until a nutrient loading limit is developed.

By tb

June 18, 2007 8:36 AM | Link to this

Trixie… finley.. What you have missed is the fact that the water in the aquifer which is used in the reverse osmosis plants near the coast is laden with nutrients such as phosphates nitrates etc. If only needs a few parts per million increase to creat problems. The water in the aquife near the coast has flowed through rocks laden with years ans years of fertilizers Thats why its high in nutrients… Hence why the everglades have high phosphate levels… these cant be removed by revers osmosis… it does leade to a more concentrated level of nitrate, ( basic science) The scientist whom want to protect the reef are correct. ( BTW I have degrees in Geography and biology) This will be a disaster for the reef… and you wont like it when you cant go in the sea for a swim beaciuse of a toxix algae bloom.. Then of course you will blame somebody else.

By Trixie Dixie

June 18, 2007 8:01 AM | Link to this

Again, more people who have no idea what they are talking about. This is NOT sewage. It is groundwater pulled up from a deep aquifer, everything NATURALLY occuring. NO chemicals are added. All they do is remove the drinking water, then expel the concentrated saltwater into the ocean. It dispels in 90 feet of water, so within a few feet any nitrates disperse to no more than a few parts per billion, which has no effect on the reef whatsoever.

Don’t believe it? Then how is it that Lake Worth pumped raw sewage out of this pipe for 20 years and it didn’t kill the reef?

The truth is, almost NO ONE on this site is qualified to say one way or the other. That’s what the scientists are for.

By Alan

June 18, 2007 7:43 AM | Link to this

I am with the City. The planet is probably dying anyway so let’s just trash the hell out of it. The city is just joining the many others to become the Dr. Kevorkians to Nature. Time to put this baby to sleep! Seriously are these people dimwits or what? Graduates from the Communist Russia College of Environmental Protection? A little common sense says if it isn’t natural don’t do it.

By Melissa Keyes

June 18, 2007 7:31 AM | Link to this

Any change in the composition of ocean water can be detrimental to coral, a very delicate organism.

Algae smothers coral.

Thomas Goreau and Mike Risk are top of the line, I hope they make a huge impression.

Melissa Keyes, PADI SCUBA Instructor

By Larry

June 18, 2007 7:02 AM | Link to this

They won’t be staisfied until it’s all gone!

By rich

June 18, 2007 6:52 AM | Link to this

i’m still amazed that anyone thinks it’s ok to pump waste into the ocean. these same idiots are lining up at the seafood restaurants feasting on their own feces.

By steve layman. boycott lake worth!

June 18, 2007 6:38 AM | Link to this

boycott lake worth busniess if city goes ahead with plans to dump sewage into our oceans ..

By Steve Williams

June 17, 2007 10:33 PM | Link to this

Boca Has the same system already in place. The effluent is pumped just east of the reef. Everything is dying on the Boca Reefs and a lack of fish and lobster is proof. I’ve been diving these reefs for over 30 years and this kind of ill planned problems are definitely causing the decay ofteh reefs. Why not spend a little more money to go another mile East. Why pump this stuff so close to shore? Are we really saving a million dollars just to pump it as close as some study says it will be safe for humans? Go the extra mile, that’s all it will take o save our reefs.

By Tom

June 17, 2007 9:42 PM | Link to this

Our deep aquifer water is probably loaded with high-nitrogen from all the disposal of sewage via deep well injection. Also, the DEP has no standards for discharge of nitrogen into saltwater, because it would probably mean they would have to shut down the 300 deep injection wells for partially treated sewage. Miami Dade has the biggest injection well, and it is permitted to dispose almost 200 million gallons per day of partially treated sewage. EPA reports that water in that deep aquifer moves eastbound at the rate of 6000 feet per day. Tiny amounts of nitrogen kill the reefs via algae blooms.

By E Finley

June 17, 2007 6:48 PM | Link to this

I thought algae thrived off of nitrogen and phosphorous? Brine reject water from RO plants is high in minerals, but not nutrients, right?

Anyone care to explain?

By E Finley

June 17, 2007 6:47 PM | Link to this

I thought algae thrived off of nitrogen and phosphorous? Brine reject water from RO plants is high in minerals, but not nutrients, right?

Anyone care to explain?