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Friday, August 25, 2006

Raw Sewage Leak Update

I have been in contact with Mr. John Pick today. The original release of information stating that the pipe burst at 1:00 AM was false. I am told by Mr. Pick that the pipe burst at 9:30 AM and he is very confident about that.

Now I do have a friend that was traveling that route earlier than that in the morning and the roads were already closed off, (before 9:30 AM) and Mr. Pick believes they were closed off due to some of the work they were doing.

I am awaiting an answer as to how many, (if any) people went to the Hospital over this incident. We have learned directly from the Contractor that a few people were drenched in human feces when it burst and there's been no confirmation that HAZMAT was called in. I'm not sure if that's something that would be required with a spill like this but from what we've come to learn the City simply took it upon themselves to simply clean it up the way they felt necessary.

I'd sure like to know what would have happened if a privately owned company had this happen to them and what would be required? Does anyone out there have that expertise and knowledge in that department?

Here's the kicker of the entire thing though. I have been involved in projects and I have several friends that have done projects whereas they have been required to do what is called "Storm Water Management." In each one that I am aware of it has cost around $300,000.00 just to get through that process before you start your build out. One of these friends has a Self Storage Unit Company where he had to spend that much and he has no bathrooms, nothing! The land was already sitting there doing nothing and just because he decided to put up the storage units he had to spend that kind of money bringing it up to code.

Now while you're asking yourself why, wait till you hear what the City's Storm Water Management consists of! Before I expose that however I'd like to ask why everyone else just can't tap into their system rather than go through the $300,000.00 trouble to do it properly?

Nonetheless, to answer the earlier statement/question, the City has sewer lines/drains in the roads. These drains flow directly into the Wicomico River! That's right Folks, they don't take care of jack! They flow everything right into the river and that how the supposed 43,000 gallons of raw sewage made its way into the Wicomico River! Now we have to live up to far better standards as individuals but the City doesn't have to live up to those standards and in fact they are the biggest polluters of the Wicomico River, more so than anyone else.

So what do they do? They create numbers like this so called 43,000 gallons of raw sewage and we're supposed to believe them and trust them? Follow Hadley and Duvall site lately and you'll clearly see that there's no trusting this Mayor, John Jacobs and most of the City Council.

Nevertheless, I firmly believe the City must upgrade their own storm water management rules on their own properties and or simply allow others to tap into their lines in the roadways. This could save developers million upon millions of dollars. I'm not suggesting that it's the right thing to do but I am saying why does the City constantly get away with the do as I say not as I do attitude?

1 comment:

undermine said...

I can tell you, that morning I was on my way to work at approx. 5:30 am and the bales of straw had already been placed in front of the storm water inlets, I also remember this because the power plants (the lights used by workers at night) were not properly set up and I could hardly see to drive as I passed the pump station. I think 9:30 am is inaccurate. There were not bales of straw there previous to that morning and it probably would make people think alot less sewage leaked if it were later in the morning and it happened while the work site was attended. I think its high time the city start coughing up some green in the way of fines or reimbursment to property owners who cannot fully enjoy their property if they happen to own on the river.