My tax dollars at work. (in Off-topic)

I had a very interesting day at work today. An Environmental Conservation Officer from the DEC stopped in and paid me a visit. Unfortunately this was not a friendly visit. Earlier this week we emptied our reservoir and cleaned it. Just as we have done every year since I was 14 and worked for the summer youth programs. Apparently, according to the DEC, this is a bad thing to do. Yet I am mandated by the DOH and EPA to clean the reservoir out at least once a year. It appears that I am going to be written a summons and be issued a fine by one government agency for doing something that I am required to do by another government agency. I have just gotten off the phone with my DOH representative and explained to her what happened. So it will be interesting to see where things go from here.

That sucks, Edy. Bureaucrats never cease to amaze me.

I can just see Hermes stamping the order now.

"But Mr Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine month."

"Oh yes, well as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn't exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them, had you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything."

"But the plans were on display ..."

"On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."

"That's the display department."

"With a flashlight."

"Ah, well the lights had probably gone."

"So had the stairs."

"But look, you found the notice didn't you?"

"Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'."

Well I now have a 10 year permit from the DEC to drain and clean our water source. My DOH representative apparently made it quite clear to them that public health takes precedence over some stupid fish that they stock anyways. ;8^)

Why don't you just maintain your reservoir properly instead of draining it in a bad way?

Yeah, Ed, why not?!?!?

Don't you normally just send the dirty water to Africa or Canada ?

I'm sure I read in the press that's all the rage nowadays. Something about "ethical offsetting" or something..?

NS we have a concrete impoundment that a mountain stream flows into. Our reservoir is only 750k gallons when full, with a back up 350k reservoir. The only way to clean out the sediment and leaves that collect in it, is to open the 3' x 4' gate and empty it. This leaves the native stream flowing through it. We then get in and with hand rakes (I will not take a piece of equipment into the reservoir) rake the leaves and other sediment out. This is the only feasible way to undertake this operation.

It's just like when that environmental agency shut down the Ghostbuster's ghost containment machine...

Edyit - What exactly do the environmental guys say is wrong?

750 THOUSAND?

yes 750,000 now keep in mind I'm not sending it down all at once. I crack the gate a little bit each hour so it takes about a full day to drain. If i opened it full it would take less than an hour and a half. The DEC's main complaint was the added turbidity when the silt gets flushed out and that when i close the gate the stream dries up until it fills and flows over the weirs again.

Reservoir...

=Sewage?

heck no, i make drinking water, the waste end of it is another guys problem, you couldn't pay me enough for that.

Oh, I was thinking you were...dumping sewage in a lake/river or something. I guess I misunderstood :P

Yup I think you are getting hosed . If you need to get even some time farmers have a thing called a honey wagon for liquid manure that works good to fill basements . Never know when you might need to know some thing like that !