"If you drink this water and live, tell me about it." Iowa

[ensho]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/17/national/main4185790.shtml


Floods Leave Iowa Swimming In Toxic Brew
Sewage, Farm Chemicals, Animal Waste Infest Water; Potential Levee Breaks Loom


-snip-

Where floodwaters remained, they were a noxious brew of sewage, farm chemicals and fuel. Bob Lanz used a 22-foot aluminum flatboat to navigate through downtown Oakville, where the water reeked of pig feces and diesel fuel.

"You can hardly stand it," Lanz said as he surveyed what remained of his family's hog farm. "It's strong."

LeRoy Lippert, chairman of emergency management and homeland security in nearby Des Moines County, warned people to avoid the floodwaters: "If you drink this water and live, tell me about it. You have no idea. It is very, very wise to stay out of it. It's as dangerous as anything."

-snip-

In Cedar Rapids, hazardous conditions forced officials on Monday to stop taking residents into homes where the water had receded. Broken gas lines, sink holes and structural problems with homes made conditions unsafe, said Dave Koch, a city spokesman. Officials hoped to allow residents in soon.

-snip-

Also mixed into the floodwaters are pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer from Iowa's vast stretches of farmland.

-snip-

When the waters rose Sunday in Oakville, a town of 400, Lanz and his family tried to move their pigs out of harm's way. But they could only save a few. Most of their 350 sows and their 800 piglets were lost.

The family ripped out canvas ventilation curtains in the barn so the pigs "could at least have a chance," said Logan Lanz, Bob Lanz' grandson. "They were screaming. They were on top of each other. We had some big sows in there. They're frantic, and they run you over."

He said the water was choked with dead piglets.
-snip-
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words fail

[no_hypocrisy]

1. EPA is as useless as FEMA and * at this point.

How can you write off an entire state . . .

[bryant69]

2. I'm not sure about that

I mean I'm sure they are (since this is the Bush EPA), but the environmental problems caused by mixing an entire community in water have to be pretty serious even if they were perfect.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. What a mess! :^(

[Debi]

4. It STINKS!!!

Driving past the levy in Cedar Falls (with the poor dead animals and fish and sewage and waste being left behind as the water recedes) is AWFUL. The smell is incredible. I can't imagine what it's like inside of homes and businesses with the additional rot in the sheetrock and carpets.

UGH!

[ensho]

5. and that smell will continue on down the rivers, etc.,etc.

thanks for the first hand report