Is it safe to get in the Gulf water?

Someone posted this to a thread in the other forum. I don't know what to make of it.

http://bridgethegulfproject.org/blog/2013/very-very-sick-population-due-bp-oil-and-dispersants-say-medical-experts-scientists

Hopefully they contact Preventive Medicine and Industrial Hygiene on the base to get the latest up to date info on area concerns..

I went for a swim a couple of weeks ago. The water'll be fine.

Louisiana was harder hit than we were. Those sick folks lived in the thick of the mess and probably had daily contact with the water.

We have had plenty of dilution since then.

P.S. You gotta die of something.

A bit late Bob, but I have been surfing all week and SUP'ing too. I've been watching the shoreline carefully for tar balls on my running shoes, and checking the (scant) water quality reports. So far, so good.

I don't think it's healthy to swim in the ocean at all. They bury dead bodies there amongst other horrible things. Have you ever seen a body that's been sloughed in the water? Ugh!

When we went camping out at Ft. McRee during Memorial Day weekend, I expected the waters to have settled somewhat after the big rain. On a full tide (where "cleaner" water has come in from the Gulf), it was still a bit dirty.

---

KooKat, I had a friend that used to say about water quality... "fish f**k in it".   

Everything is relative, though. I don't like the fact that our water up here in Hoover, Alabama uses water from a reservoir. All kinds of animals poop in it and it collects everything that falls out of the air.

In Escambia County, the porous Sand and Gravel Aquifer, where ECUA's water comes from, has contamination from Radium, Flouride, Dry Cleaning Solvent (Perchlorethylene), Gasoline & Diesel fuels (Benzene, Ethyl-benzene, Toluene, Xylene, Methyl tert-butyl ether, Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Paraffins, Naphthalene, et al.

But the utilities use huge activated carbon filters (in Escambia County, anyway) and test them continuously to ensure that they don't reach "breakthrough", where they are full and don't intercept crud any longer. I also use activated carbon filters on the water I drink... here and in Pensacola.

I'm not going to stop living my life and withdraw into a life of paranoia. I live by the numbers. If the numbers are overwhelmingly in my favor, I will probably enjoy that activity.

I don't drink the water out of the faucet either but I'm sure enough not going to swim in waters I know are contaminated by decaying matter from all sorts of things. To each his own.

Our food is contaminated with hormones.  The air we breathe is contaminated with all kinds of chemicals and particulate matter.  There is crap in the water. Yep, bad juju is everywhere.

I was in charge of Escambia County Health Department's Water & Sewage section for about 5 years, so I understand the numbers on getting sick.  After heavy rains, you won't catch me in the water, especially bayous and bays, because, the "toilet" just flushed.  

If it hasn't rained heavily in the past 4 days, I feel better about swimming in the Gulf and in bays that have good flushing with Gulf water.  If I have open sores, I refrain from swimming.  

I don't swim in inland lakes or ponds because of the possibility of Cholera, Giardia, and lots of other buggers that'll ruin my day.

As I said earlier, life is a numbers game.  I play the numbers that are in my favor and don't worry about the chances that are infinitesimal.  As far as swimming is concerned, I DO worry about sharks when I swim at the pass.  That music from Jaws starts playing in my head, y'know.  I keep a wary eye out for 'em.

And lightning!  I hate lightning, especially when I am out sailing with that metal mast way up in the air, higher than anything else for hundreds of yards.  My wife and I got off easy when our catamaran was struck by lightning.  She got a contact burn on her leg where one of the metal shrouds carried part of the strike was up against her leg.

Eric wrote:

Our food is contaminated with hormones.  The air we breathe is contaminated with all kinds of chemicals and particulate matter.  There is crap in the water.  Yep, bad juju is everywhere.

I was in charge of Escambia County Health Department's Water & Sewage section for about 5 years, so I understand the numbers on getting sick.  After heavy rains, you won't catch me in the water, especially bayous and bays, because, the "toilet" just flushed.  

If it hasn't rained heavily in the past 4 days, I feel better about swimming in the Gulf and in bays that have good flushing with Gulf water.  If I have open sores, I refrain from swimming.  

I don't swim in inland lakes or ponds because of the possibility of Cholera, Giardia, and lots of other buggers that'll ruin my day.

As I said earlier, life is a numbers game.  I play the numbers that are in my favor and don't worry about the chances that are infinitesimal.  As far as swimming is concerned, I DO worry about sharks when I swim at the pass.  That music from Jaws starts playing in my head, y'know.  I keep a wary eye out for 'em.

And lightning!  I hate lightning, especially when I am out sailing with that metal mast way up in the air, higher than anything else for hundreds of yards.  My wife and I got off easy when our catamaran was struck by lightning.  She got a contact burn on her leg where one of the metal shrouds carried part of the strike was up against her leg.

Good Post....Well said...I agree

Yes, sharks are one of my biggest concerns as well as lightening. I just don't like to swim in waters I know are contaminated. I'll stick to pools.

koolkat wrote:

Yes, sharks are one of my biggest concerns as well as lightening. I just don't like to swim in waters I know are contaminated. I'll stick to pools.

Chlorine is good for you.....

Better than waters that have dead bodies in them! Yuk!

KoolKat, I get the impression that you don't like dead bodies... lol.

I was an EMT and saw my share of 'em. Did CPR for 15 miles in the back of an ambulance on one person... who didn't make it... and had to go to the morgue to roll her off my backboard to get that special backboard I had made. (Standard backboards wouldn't fit into the Lifeflight helicopter they were using at the time and mine fit it. I wanted it back.)

Once, I helped gather the remains of a Navy Pilot who nose-dived a T2-V into Perdido Bay. We recovered 10 lbs of him... so sad.

I still swim in the bays and Gulf with my mouth open. Disgusting, huh?

OMG! Don't say that! All I can think of is Bin Laden's body decaying in the waters. I really haven't seen very many dead bodies. They bother me. What did the woman die of? Heart attack?

hallmarkgrad wrote:

Eric wrote:

Our food is contaminated with hormones.  The air we breathe is contaminated with all kinds of chemicals and particulate matter.  There is crap in the water.  Yep, bad juju is everywhere.

I was in charge of Escambia County Health Department's Water & Sewage section for about 5 years, so I understand the numbers on getting sick.  After heavy rains, you won't catch me in the water, especially bayous and bays, because, the "toilet" just flushed.  

If it hasn't rained heavily in the past 4 days, I feel better about swimming in the Gulf and in bays that have good flushing with Gulf water.  If I have open sores, I refrain from swimming.  

I don't swim in inland lakes or ponds because of the possibility of Cholera, Giardia, and lots of other buggers that'll ruin my day.

As I said earlier, life is a numbers game.  I play the numbers that are in my favor and don't worry about the chances that are infinitesimal.  As far as swimming is concerned, I DO worry about sharks when I swim at the pass.  That music from Jaws starts playing in my head, y'know.  I keep a wary eye out for 'em.

And lightning!  I hate lightning, especially when I am out sailing with that metal mast way up in the air, higher than anything else for hundreds of yards.  My wife and I got off easy when our catamaran was struck by lightning.  She got a contact burn on her leg where one of the metal shrouds carried part of the strike was up against her leg.

Good Post....Well said...I agree

Hi HG!! Missed you, buddy!

I completely agree. You all have heard me talk about my hippie dippy sister. She's a vegan and only eats organic food. She gets sick a lot. I told my dad once that it's because she doesn't "keep her levels up" ... by which I meant her levels of cooties, of course.

In general I probably eat better than most Americans, and I have a "thing" about milk. Organic only. I swear I can taste the chemicals and hormones in regular milk. Everything else I eat is conventional unless it's on sale. But every now and then I'll eat at a diner or Denny's or something. You know, to keep my levels up.

And you bet your sweet ass I swam in the gulf... every chance I got. I was so starved for nature when I lived there, that and fishing was what kept me sane. I swam in the intercoastal waterway, too. At night. Naked. With the sharks. And the cooties. And the dead body goo. Ooo!

  

Ricey's hippy-dippy sister.

She gets mad when I call her a hippie. "I AM *NOT*!!" lol

riceme wrote:

Hi HG!! Missed you, buddy!

I completely agree. You all have heard me talk about my hippie dippy sister. She's a vegan and only eats organic food. She gets sick a lot. I told my dad once that it's because she doesn't "keep her levels up" ... by which I meant her levels of cooties, of course.

In general I probably eat better than most Americans, and I have a "thing" about milk. Organic only. I swear I can taste the chemicals and hormones in regular milk. Everything else I eat is conventional unless it's on sale. But every now and then I'll eat at a diner or Denny's or something. You know, to keep my levels up.

And you bet your sweet ass I swam in the gulf... every chance I got. I was so starved for nature when I lived there, that and fishing was what kept me sane. I swam in the intercoastal waterway, too. At night. Naked. With the sharks. And the cooties. And the dead body goo. Ooo!

  

As a guy, the only word I read in that post was "naked".  

Eric wrote:

As a guy, the only word I read in that post was "naked".  

LOL. I hate wearing clothes.

:-)

Yuk! Yuk! And yuk again,Riceme! I would never let the fishies see me naked.

LOL. They didn't mind... they were naked too.

  

LOL

  

Hey, T. Missed you.

riceme wrote:

  

Hey, T. Missed you.

I missed you also. I share in spirit your adventures in Alaska. You are one of those rare flowers that can grow in any condition and bloom beautifully. You are a born pioneer and survivor. I will always admire you.
Yours, Teo