OK, so if THIS does not tell you that owners of private wells should perform periodic testing of the water pulled from their wells, then we wholeheartedly doubt we will ever find a better reason. A hobbyist drone (unmanned aircraft) pilot in the Dallas, TX area captured a rather disturbing image of what looked like a river of blood exiting a meatpacking facility and heading towards a nearby river, the Trinity River.
Huh? What? A river of BLOOD? Has somebody taken their love of Twilight or any of the other vampire-themed shows a little too far as a prank?
Unfortunately not. We found this article posted on Yahoo News last night and as ridiculous as it sounds, it also appears quite real from the photograph and later statements made by a spokesperson for the Texas Environmental Crimes Task Force.
What danger does this pose?
Honestly, we lack the proper background to go into this one fully, but we do know that discharging that much untreated biological matter will throw the ecosystem in the Trinity River off in ways that would make ecologists stutter, sweat profusely, and probably possibly go into shock.
That stream appears to contain 100’s of gallons of untreated nitrates, nitrites, proteins, decaying organic matter, bacteria, and microscopic parasites — all capable of disrupting the Trinity River’s ecological balance and eventually making their way into public and private water supplies.
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Public water systems using wells
Pretty much all public water systems that pull ground water from wells test and treat the water for contaminants before distribution but in extreme situations even they can get overwhelmed if they receive massive, unexpected levels of biological contaminants in source water. While workers will make the necessary adjustments to chemical feeders and filters to counteract the influx of filth, making those changes may take time and some contaminated water may find its way into the water supply.
Owners of private wells
Most do not use any sort of disinfection system on their wells so events like this put them at great risk. Really not a whole lot more to say except… Only regular testing of your well water can warn you of contamination!
Think about this, private well owners: How long had material flowed out of that ‘secondary pipe’ before a random flyover by a hobbyist’s drone (unmanned aircraft) captured a picture?
Moral of the story?
We believe one of two things happened at that meatpacking facility: 1) Not everyone played by the rules set forth by local officials and the facility broke the rules intentionally; 2) Unexpected events such as equipment malfunctioning or human error caused the slaughter waste to go down the wrong pipe. In either case this bloody mess may not have gotten noticed for quite some time and in that time countless people may have gotten sick from drinking contaminated water.
Periodic testing of well and ground water can help keep you safe from accidents like this one and many others that may take place without you knowing.
as we always like to say, “It’s your water, your health… and ultimately your LIFE!”
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