Russel Norman

Want toilet paper with your towel?

by Russel Norman

It’s christmas. Time to go for a quick dip in the local lagoon. Or maybe not… because it’s full of shit. A despatch from the Hawke’s Bay:

A warning has also been issued for Waipatiki Lagoon, also north of Napier, which has raised levels of E.coli after heavy rains upstream washed effluent from farmland and discharges down various tributaries.

A media release from the health board said tests done on Christmas Eve showed E.coli levels which “significantly exceed the maximum levels recommended [with] excessive amounts of faecal matter”.

We are beyond the limits of the lakes and rivers’ ability to absorb our shit (or at least the shit from our cows). With the result that we can’t swim in the lakes and rivers without getting sick. Now that makes me sick.

Published in Environment & Resource Management by Russel Norman on Thu, December 27th, 2007   

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