Posted on 10/05/2006 9:52:09 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets
MALIBU, California (AP) -- The mystery: Just whose waste is befouling the most celebrity-saturated stretch of California coast?
The suspects: Malibu residents whose septic tanks might let what gets flushed down the toilet flow down the hills and into the Pacific Ocean.
The strategy: DNA testing and a pledge, if need be, to get court warrants to inspect leaky tanks buried beneath the backyards of some Hollywood stars.
"This is going to get messy," predicts Mark Pestrella, the Los Angeles County public works official tasked with the project.
...
...Oak-shaded private paths that wind through the canyons and spill onto the beaches have attracted numerous environmentally minded celebrities over the years including Sting and Tom Hanks.
....
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I always knew hollywood was full of shiite.
I'm torn. On the one hand, the EPA should be dismantled. On the other hand, this will expose some liberal Hollywood Democrats for the hypocrites that they are!
Some just don't understand the gravity of the situation.
One thread on this story yesterday said that they were going to target "high volume toilet users" "like restaurants and Barbara Streisand's former residence."
(True, no joke.)
"But our *%&$ doesnt stink! This is outrageous!"
Wow I didn't know these elite stars shit.
KYLE
What's the matter, Mr. Hankey? Are you
sick?
MR. HANKEY
Oh, I just got a little cold is all.
All these new people in South Park are
stressful unto my home.
STAN
What do you mean?
MR. HANKEY
Well, you see, boys, the sewer is a
fragile ecosystem.
CARTMAN
Oh my God.
MR. HANKEY
These new folks in town eat nothin'
but cous cous, tofu, and raw vegetables,
and it's destroying my environment.
I commented at the time this photograph came out that it is unusual how vegetation grows on on the cliff face on that one vertical line right below the low point on Striesand's property. If a lot of nutrients from a septic system were coming down the cliff face at that point, it would account for the lush vegetation on the cliff and down on the beach.
I worked with a guy who lived in a lakefront home in Connecticut. People who lived on the lake used it for drinking water. ("Riparian rights"). The lakefront association monitored the quality of their water carefully. After some new development, the e. coli count shot up. They obtained a court order and flushed dye packets down the toilets of the suspect homes. Turns out the developer didn't connect to the sewer or install a septic system, he discharged the waste water into the catch basins (storm sewers) which ran directly into the lake.
The water to the new development was cut off and the owners were ordered to vacate until the problem was fixed.
Sometimes it takes more than a bribe to the local building inspector to be a successful developer. (How in the world those houses passed a sewerage inspection is beyond me.)
I and Milton Friedman agree. But even Milton would maintain that local building codes make sense. You are responsible to see that your "effluent" doesn't run over onto your neighbor's yard.
The whole stoopid debate about environmental law is the reasonableness, not the concept of neighborhood effects.
!
It looks like a perfectly harmless rainwater runoff discharge. Fresh water alone might account for the growth. If spurts of turgid water come out on dry days, be suspicious.
...And I for one welcome our new insect overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves."
"This is going to get messy," predicts Mark Pestrella.... Los Angeles County official in charge of bad septic system puns.
Could be. I guess if the irrigation system is miscalibrated, and water runs down that cliff on a regular basis, this might happen.
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