Black, slimy, foamy water, hundreds dead fish
Aug 15, 2011 0:54:20 GMT -5
Post by PrisonerOfHope on Aug 15, 2011 0:54:20 GMT -5
Black, slimy, foamy water, hundreds dead fish mystery in Louisiana
Hundreds of dead fish and black water have led a multi-agency investigation team to a submerged pipeline in Louisiana's Washington Parish along Pearl River that flows into the Gulf of Mexico but investigators now want to know what is in the black water, draining into the Gulf of Mexico dead zone stench and suffocation, topic of a recent conference.
‘There’s got to be something wrong with the bayou,’ said Mike Tardo, owner of Tardo Hair Designs, 601 W. Second St. in Thibodaux earlier on Wednesday after hundreds of dead fish and turtles had been reported on Monday and Tuesday prompting a Louisiana and Mississippi multi-agency investigation.
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The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) reported to WWLTV that "effects from the water" are seen all the way to Walkiah Bluff, Miss., 40-50 miles down river.
Officials had said water out of the pipeline, just above Richardson Landing, leading to Temple Inland paper mill is making the water black and filmy according to WWL but whether the mill is the cause is yet to be determined.
"Officials haven't determined if the mill is definitely the cause of the fish kill along the Pearl and won't know conclusively until test results are returned, but they said the water coming out of the pipeline that leads to the mill is making the water black and filmy."
The plant is allowed to discharge some of the black substance into the river, but Wildlife and Fisheries officials said Pearl River has never been as black as now.
Bayou Lafourche Fresh Water District Director Archie Chaisson and Louisiana DEQ environmental scientist Robert Breaux said the phenomenon is "not unusual" according to staff writer Chas Guidry of Houma Today on Wednesday.
It “happens in the summer,” Chaisson had said.
Much of it is due to rainfall combined with leaves and other vegetation in shallow, slow-moving water and warm weather according to Breaux who explained that water tests in Thibodaux showed a dissolved oxygen level of 0.75.
“Fish like it at 5.0. They start dying at about 2.0.”
Most of the dead fish in Thibodaux are grass carp according to Breaux who said, “They're usually the first to go. They stress out easily, and they're so big.”
Now that the problem is worse than ever seen in the area, investigators are working to determine what is in the water flowing into the Pearl River.
Area residents started seeing the film on the water on Thursday that progressively worsened to became black and foamy according to WWLTV Saturday.
"One fisherman said he pulled several hundred pounds of dead fish from his nets Saturday."
The Gulf of Mexico's growing dead zone stench from suffocation has become apparent, as discussed earlier this month in New Orleans at a major conference where experts blamed the death on pesticides and fertilizers.
Continue reading on Examiner.com Black, slimy, foamy water, hundreds dead fish mystery in Louisiana - National Human Rights | Examiner.com www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/black-slimy-foamy-water-hundreds-dead-fish-still-mystery-louisiana#ixzz1V4etHHCn
Hundreds of dead fish and black water have led a multi-agency investigation team to a submerged pipeline in Louisiana's Washington Parish along Pearl River that flows into the Gulf of Mexico but investigators now want to know what is in the black water, draining into the Gulf of Mexico dead zone stench and suffocation, topic of a recent conference.
‘There’s got to be something wrong with the bayou,’ said Mike Tardo, owner of Tardo Hair Designs, 601 W. Second St. in Thibodaux earlier on Wednesday after hundreds of dead fish and turtles had been reported on Monday and Tuesday prompting a Louisiana and Mississippi multi-agency investigation.
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The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) reported to WWLTV that "effects from the water" are seen all the way to Walkiah Bluff, Miss., 40-50 miles down river.
Officials had said water out of the pipeline, just above Richardson Landing, leading to Temple Inland paper mill is making the water black and filmy according to WWL but whether the mill is the cause is yet to be determined.
"Officials haven't determined if the mill is definitely the cause of the fish kill along the Pearl and won't know conclusively until test results are returned, but they said the water coming out of the pipeline that leads to the mill is making the water black and filmy."
The plant is allowed to discharge some of the black substance into the river, but Wildlife and Fisheries officials said Pearl River has never been as black as now.
Bayou Lafourche Fresh Water District Director Archie Chaisson and Louisiana DEQ environmental scientist Robert Breaux said the phenomenon is "not unusual" according to staff writer Chas Guidry of Houma Today on Wednesday.
It “happens in the summer,” Chaisson had said.
Much of it is due to rainfall combined with leaves and other vegetation in shallow, slow-moving water and warm weather according to Breaux who explained that water tests in Thibodaux showed a dissolved oxygen level of 0.75.
“Fish like it at 5.0. They start dying at about 2.0.”
Most of the dead fish in Thibodaux are grass carp according to Breaux who said, “They're usually the first to go. They stress out easily, and they're so big.”
Now that the problem is worse than ever seen in the area, investigators are working to determine what is in the water flowing into the Pearl River.
Area residents started seeing the film on the water on Thursday that progressively worsened to became black and foamy according to WWLTV Saturday.
"One fisherman said he pulled several hundred pounds of dead fish from his nets Saturday."
The Gulf of Mexico's growing dead zone stench from suffocation has become apparent, as discussed earlier this month in New Orleans at a major conference where experts blamed the death on pesticides and fertilizers.
Continue reading on Examiner.com Black, slimy, foamy water, hundreds dead fish mystery in Louisiana - National Human Rights | Examiner.com www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/black-slimy-foamy-water-hundreds-dead-fish-still-mystery-louisiana#ixzz1V4etHHCn
