The Flaming Lakes Of Bangalore; Waste Foam Toxic Enough To Crack Windshields - Guardian

[hatrack]

Last edited Thu Mar 2, 2017, 10:05 AM - Edit history (1)

On the evening of Thursday 16 February, residents in the south-east part of Bangalore noticed huge plumes of smoke rising into the sky. The smoke was coming from the middle of Bellandur Lake – the biggest lake in the city at a little over 890 acres. They realised the seemingly impossible had happened: the lake had caught fire. Even fire fighters wondered how a blaze in water could be put out. The fire in the lake burned for 12 hours and left behind a sinister black patch in the centre, according to some eye-witness accounts.

This is the new story of Bangalore – state capital, India’s Silicon Valley, and once upon a time, the “city of lakes”. The reasons why these lakes are able to catch fire begin to explain why scientists at the influential Indian Institute of Science believe Bangalore will be “unliveable” in a few years’ time.

A lethal mix of factors create an environment that merely requires the slightest of triggers for lakes to go up in flames. Untreated effluents pour into the waters from the many industries and homes on its banks, illegal waste disposal takes place on a large scale – often including rubbish which is set on fire – and invasive weeds cover large swathes of the lake in a thick green canopy.

The latest incident is not the first time the lake has caught fire; it happened in May 2015. A few days later, it was in the news again for being covered in snow-like froth, which began to swirl up in the summer wind, engulfing passers-by. The froth was the result of chemical waste dumped in the lake, and was toxic enough to crack windshields, wear the paint off car hoods and exacerbate the severe respiratory issues that have plagued citizens in recent years.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/mar/01/burning-lakes-experts-fear-bangalore-uninhabitable-2025

[lunasun]

1. The USA doesn't need the EPA . Stops profits and jobs . Trump will set it right maga

What was that river in Ohio ?

[hedda_foil]

5. Lake Erie...m one of the great lakes.

[angstlessk]

6. Lake Cuyahoga

http://www.alleghenyfront.org/how-a-burning-river-helped-create-the-clean-water-act/

https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/63#.WLg3iW_yuUk

[trc]

2. I remember as a kid driving through Denver

and crossing the Platte river which was covered in foam caused by various plants dumping, legally, into the river. We have come so far in this country, but now are heading back in that direction. Disgusting what the group of repugs are doing.

[mountain grammy]

7. and I remember moving to Denver in 1984

the brown cloud was so thick, you couldn't even see the Platte.

[enough]

3. A glimpse of the greatness Trump has in mind. NT

[Ohioblue22]

4. miga

[procon]

8. Closer to home, the Cuyahoga River caught fire in Cleveland in 1969.

The 1969 fire on the Cuyahoga River was not the first time a major river in the United States burned. Many rivers and waterways in the US were heavily polluted with industrial toxins, raw sewage and refinery waste, but the Cuyahoga River Fire helped to create the Clean Water Act. Now the Republicans are trying to take us back to that era again for greed.

Republicans want to push environmental controls down to individual states, but a state can only regulate its own waters, it can't regulate what upstream states might do that could end up flooding them with a toxic sludge. For that level of control you need the EPA as a nationwide regulatory agency to ensure that waterways that cross or impact multiple states all comply with the same federal standard.

[lunasun]

9. That is the name of the river I was looking for up thread and yes it must be federal

Awhile back Indiana was going to give Lake Michigan access to some pollution company and it was less than 50 miles from Chicago land homes and the pollution to one of Great Lakes was stopped at the time
federal oversight must exist to hear the argument among states with shared resources . What we need to stop is state republicans who are open to greed of course but there should be a federal hand also

Also found the old Newman song about this kind of problem in the US before the regulations

[hunter]

10. I remember all the libertarian types who claimed China and India would skip that part...

... of their economic development; that the invisible hand of the free market would somehow cause them to adopt cleaner manufacturing technologies.

Among them were many environmentalists of the sort who still promote technological fixes that will somehow magically save us from economic systems that are fundamentally damaging and destructive to both the natural environment and our own human spirit.