A silver lining in the muck
Posted: Thursday, September 22 at 10:59 am CT by Miguel Llanos
NEW ORLEANS -- One of our last stops before wrapping up is one of the pumping stations that have been sending New Orleans sewage and sediment into Lake Pontchartrain, a huge body of water whose ecosystem was nearly wiped out until a group of citizens organized to clean it up in the 1990s.
To get there we had to drive through neighborhoods deserted except for powerline crews and rescue workers still searching for any survivors on streets only recently emptied of floodwaters.
Peter van Metre, from the U.S. Geological Survey, shows a suspended sediment sample taken from the waters of Lake Pontchartrain near floodwater pumping. (David Friedman / MSNBC.com)
Even before we saw the pump we saw the brown plume exiting a canal and opening up into the lake. There is a boom in place across the canal to trap large sediment but it can’t stop everything.
As a result, the state and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are taking water and sediment samples at this spot and others.
The citizens’ group that was born of the 1990s restoration efforts welcomes the effort.
“It’s the most comprehensive sampling program I’ve ever seen,” says Carlton Dufrechou, executive director of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation.
He expects some short-term shore damage but is optimistic about recovery, reciting an adage that he says should prove true in this case: the solution to pollution is dilution.
Andrea Calvin, who coordinates water monitoring for the foundation, joined us along the lake and echoed Dufrechou’s optimism. Earlier restoration work means the lake is able to rebound more quickly, she says.
A key indicator, she believes, will be the health of clams in the lakebed. “They’re our canaries in the coal mine,” she says. Because the lake is so shallow, just 12 to 15 feet, any contaminated sediment can become a problem, she says.
The foundation will be watching and doing its own tests as well. “We’ll learn as we go,” Calvin says. “The monitoring really has just begun.”
Andrea Calvin, of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation (David Friedman / MSNBC.com)
Before we leave Calvin we run into a crew from the U.S. Geological Survey that just happens to be charged with sampling sediment and water. Peter van Metre, a hydrologist heading the group, shows us sediment samples from two canals that will be sent to the National Water Lab in Denver, Colo., for a range of contaminant tests.
He offers to take us out on their boat, but we’ve run short of time for the day. We do, however, plan to go back into New Orleans for one last look and maybe even that boat ride.
Another night at the 'Hill Hotel'
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