Spokane River

This is my second in a series of comments that shoot holes into the commonly accepted falsehoods generated by public institutions and the media. For instance, the term "Heavy Metals" is one that rolls right off the tongue without another thought. That in my opinion is the problem. Too much knee-jerk, not enough facts.

In my previous rant, I pointed out the millions of years of erosion that took place to form the Silver Valley. Erosion that uncovered vast amount of yes, heavy metals. Let's examine the term "Heavy Metals." For the purpose of this argument I will define it as being more dense than surrounding environment. Heavier than water? It sinks to the bottom. Heavier than the sand and gravel on the bottom? it sinks to bedrock.

Back to the Spokane River. Fishermen are warned not to eat the fish that are caught in the river due to pollution. Fishermen in Lake Coeur d'Alene are not. What really is screwing up the river, is industrial and sewage pollution.

First and foremost is the amounts of PCB's in the river. Although minute amounts can be found in old electronic equipment, the primary source appears to be old electrical transformers. These discarded transformers, or their previous contents, were dumped by our local electrical utilities.

Secondly, the increased amounts of treated sewage, (and untreated as well) is overcoming the river's ability to absorb and as a result is causing large algae blooms to occur in slack water. If we don't find a better way to disburse our sewage, we will find ourselves in a losing cycle that will eventually lead to serious problems

New technology is needed for the treatment and discharge of sewage. Those pipes that allow industrial sewage of unknown content must be immediately plugged at their outlets. We can win this war against water pollution, but not without first addressing the problem and finding new solutions.