Heavy April rainfall is not only bringing April showers to residents of the UK, but also something that they would really rather not have, especially in their drinking water; effluent!
Human sewage from London is polluting the Thames River, due to the explosive growth in recent years of toxic algae in Lake Erie, into which the Thames ultimately flows. In the first quarter of 2016, London dumped 91,171 cubic metres of partially treated waste and 59,473 cubic metres of raw sewage into the river from its waste water treatment plants, sufficient effluent to fill approximately 60 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Mark Helsten, senior water resources engineer for the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority said that this amount was rather high and fears that the heavier rainfall is as a result of climate change and fears the problem will only intensify in the future.
The Thames flows into Lake St. Clair, which drains into Lake Erie, and the farm run-off and industrial and human waste, which contains phosphorus, has fuelled massive blobs of algae which suck up huge amounts of oxygen when it dies, and this contributes to so-called “dead zones†in the lake where nothing survives.
According to Geordie Gauld, the city’s division manager for waste-water treatment, improving the sewer infrastructure to handle the overflow could ease the problem, but this could take up to around thirty years to achieve.
While the city is busy separating connected storm and sanitary sewers in various neighbourhoods as it does road work, this solution will take decades to complete and something needs to be done sooner rather than later.
This is an ecological and health hazard of magnitude, and a solution needs to be found quickly, but if you are one of those individuals that are concerned about how this could affect your drinking water, then the best solution for you is to invest in a water cooler so that you can be assured that at least your drinking water is free of any possible pollutant and or toxins.
If you are not sure which water cooler would best suit your needs, Living-Water would be happy to do a free water needs-assessment for you, free of charge, and quote you for the water cooler you need.
