[MCN] Real estate, lakes, rivers, home water: Septic tanks don't work as promised
Lance Olsen
lance at wildrockies.org
Wed Aug 5 11:25:20 EDT 2015
"The notion that septic tanks prevent fecal
bacteria from seeping into rivers and lakes
simply doesn't hold water, says a new Michigan
State University study.
"Water expert Joan Rose and her team of water
detectives have discovered freshwater
contamination stemming from septic systems.
Appearing in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, the study is the largest
watershed study of its kind to date, and provides
a basis for evaluating water quality and health
implications and the impact of septic systems on
watersheds.
"'All along, we have presumed that on-site
wastewater disposal systems, such as septic
tanks, were working,' said Rose, Homer Nowlin
Chair in water research. 'But in this study,
sample after sample, bacterial concentrations
were highest where there were higher numbers of
septic systems in the watershed area.'"
"Until now, it was assumed that the soil could
filter human sewage, and that it works as a
natural treatment system. Discharge-to-soil
methods, a simple hole dug in the ground under an
outhouse, for example, have been used for many
years. Unfortunately, these systems do not keep
E. coli and other pathogens from water supplies,
Rose said."
Full press release here:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-08/msu-sta072915.php
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences -
Published online before print August 3, 2015
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1415836112
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/07/28/1415836112.abstract
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"Climate change is not a new topic in biology
Observations of range shifts in parallel with
climate change date back to the mid-1700s."
"A surprising result is the high proportion of
species responding to recent, relatively mild
climate change (global average warming of 0.6C).
The proportion of wild species impacted by
climate change was estimated at 41% of all
species (655 of 1598)."
Parmesan, Camille. Ecological and Evolutionary
Responses to Recent Climate Change. The Annual
Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics
2006. 37:637-69. First published online as a
Review in Advance on August 24, 2006
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