Thursday 24 November 2016

Winter, water, fires and snow paws

The news has been heavy, again. When is it not?

Rural fires are a terrible situation. Our local fire has affected about 10 families, just a day after the fire.  Nov. 6th: Fire at Rideau Valley Marketplace, near Smiths Falls. The chemicals with which they fight fires have proven to be awful pollutants. 

I did a bit of work on Social Media. Asking one displaced resident, Chelsea, about her situtation, she explained they couldn't live in the house. I retweeted the article about the water pollution near this fire. Nothing else was being written about it. They reported (Nov. 7th) that the firefighting chemicals and the articles in the flea market fire had leached into the well water. This means it is in the hot water tanks, the septic systems, and throughout the houses. The Market's insurance company has been paying for a small amount of bottled water, but not enough for laundry, washing dishes, and bathing. The chemicals in the septic systems cause it to stop working with the good bacteria. 

Read more on the Smiths Falls water contamination story here: https://t.co/CMzEfwKebE via @SimonGardnerCBC #ottnews https://t.co/stQRLnXw0w
— CBC Ottawa (@CBCOttawa) November 24, 2016

If you Google 'fire fighting chemicals in water' you'll find some horrific stories. Even in nearby Mississippi Mills, where they train firefighters, the chemicals have tainted the water.

Fire lab source of chemicals found in drinking water, NRC confirms ...

JULY 2014 "Since identifying PFAS at the National Research Council's National Fire Laboratory, our focus has been on carrying out an effective and thorough environmental assessment and on the continued safeguarding of the health and safety of residents and employees," the statement said.

It just breaks my heart. Water is such an important part of our lives. WATER IS LIFE. The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is to go under a river. First Nations all across Canada are having terrible water issues.

Since we are on well water and septic, it frightens my how fragile our home. I shall try to share a few happy photos. 
Good ol' Daisy has her snow paws, now. Just a few days into the snow season. The other two cats prefer to be indoors.

Here is Annie in the sun in the office window, Dorah in the sunshine in the front window.

The snow stopped, the sun came out. Daisy went walkies in the snow. Can you spot her?
Bambi came out of the forest to munch on pumpkin.

The lights came on in the back yard, near our septic system. The well is in the front of the house.

4 comments:

William Kendall said...

We screw around with the environment at our own peril, and yet there are those who refuse to see that.

The deer must like the taste of pumpkin.

Red said...

We are heading on a destructive path when it comes to a good water supply.

Nancy J said...

Down here we are all trying to avoid stress, negativity, war details anywhere, and concentrate on happiness and nature's beauty. Love your photos Jenn, they always lift my heart.p.s. Internet data almost all finished for this month, but a quick snippet of news. We have what we call "Mrs.Thrush" coming for a feed several times a day, cramming it all into her beak, then flying off through our bushes to her nest. Joyous start to every day.

Anvilcloud said...

I never realized that. Sad.