Another reason to drink bottled water
One more reason to drink bottled water—
The water supply for the city of Atlanta springs from the ground clear and pure in the mountains about eighty miles north of town. What happens to it on the way to your tap is enough to make anyone vomit, and now it gets worse just before it starts toward your home.
That pure mountain spring water forms brooks that become streams that eventually form the Chestatee and Chatahoochee Rivers which flow into Lake Lanier, the source of Atlanta’s water supply. That is where the problem begins. Cities and counties around the lake are permitted to dump treated sewage into the lake. Sometimes it is treated, sometimes not so treated. In addition, the chicken farms and processing plants produce a lot of manure and waste product that is supposed to be kept away from the lake, but it has been documented that a lot of it finds its way into the water supply.
Recently Gwinnett County was given permission to dump millions of gallons of treated sewage into Lake Lanier right at Buford Dam, where the water leaves the lake to travel down the Chattahoochee River to Atlanta. This is the river that had to be listed as unsafe for swimming not long ago because it was so polluted. This is the water Atlanta drinks. As if that was not enough, it gets worse.
Water is pumped from the river to the reservoir on Howell Mill Road, where it is treated with enough chemicals to kill whatever is in it and sent on its way to your faucet. But recently a new ingredient has been added. A flock of 60-70 Canada geese has decided to take up residence in the reservoir. Now geese are beautiful birds, graceful swimmers and all that. But they like to eat, and that is where the problem begins. A single goose can produce a pound or more of poop each day, as much as a large dog. And these geese are leaving it in the drinking water, or on the grass around the reservoir, where rain can wash it into the drinking water. Still thirsty?
The geese like the reservoir, and why not? It is a great place to live. A fence keeps out any predators, there is plenty of grass to eat and water to drink, so why leave? In an effort to convince the unwanted guests that they might like someplace else better, the city has contracted to bring in a team of border collies to keep the geese off the grass. The dogs come by a few times a week and spend the day making things uncomfortable for the geese. They have to fly away or stay in the water, and since there is nothing to eat in the water, eventually they get hungry and take of for greener pastures, so to speak.
Many of them will probably fly north and land on the river, where they can find food and poop in the water, so that it can travel downstream and get pumped into the reservoir.
So, which brand looks good today?