sewage NO threat to public health

Clogged filter causes effluent spill in Scottsdale…10:08 AM MST on Tuesday, August 5, 2008…Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP) -- A clogged filter led to a massive treated sewage spill last week in a desert area north of Scottsdale….City officials say that more than 150,000 gallons of treated effluent flowed out of the city's Hualapai Water Campus…A city spokesman says the overflow from a basin posed no threat to public health…The Arizona Republic Web site reports the problem was corrected within an hour last Thursday in the portion of the plant that treats sewage effluent for irrigation on golf courses…The city said it plans to file a report with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

You can choose to unequivocally accept an unnamed, unidentified “spokesman” for any government agency to be open, forthright, honest and transparent in any statement they make to you and me about any action which might cast an unfavorable light on their locale.

That this sewage was “treated” just what does that mean…? To what degree or level was this sewage treated…? What level of pathogens and/or other trace chemicals, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, cosmetics or endocrine interrupters were in that sewage which was spilled…?

I want to believe, however, given the legacy of the past 7 ½ years of the credibility of any statements coming from government, I choose a more cautious route and frankly say to them – prove it.