[Shop-talk] plumping question

[David Hillman]

On Wed, 31 Oct 2007, pethier at comcast.net wrote:
> It worked well.  With our efforts and that of others in Minnesota, the 
> river is now cleaner here than it had been in generations.  The fish are 
> back and the eagles are back to eat the fish.  I have seen eagles over 
> my own neighborhood. (There are also peregrine falcons which nest on 
> tall buildings and eat pigeons, but we can't take credit for them.)

    Chicago also has peregrine falcons, but unlike other cities mentioned, 
we still use our river as a toilet.  In fact, there's a drain immediately 
underneath the dock where I board the Water Taxi everyday, and if it has 
rained within 12 hours, the stench is overpowering.  This is, of course, 
the whole reason why the Chicago River flow was reversed 107 years ago. 
How, exactly, we continue to get away with pumping raw sawage into the 
Mississippi ( via the Illinois and Des Plaines ), I don't know.

--
  David Hillman