In a facebook post made yesterday, City Commissioner Matthew Herbert made known that his community is dealing with environmental issues - and pointed the finger at the city of Topeka:
Dear Topeka,
I was elected on April 7th. Today marks my 104th day in office. Today also marks the THIRD time your city has dumped thousands of gallons of sewage into the Kansas River, set on a course for my fine city. It was funny the first time. It made you look incompetent the second. Now, on your third offense, I'm going to start leaving flaming bags of poo on your city steps until you figure out a more permanent solution for your feces disposal.
Love,
Lawrence City Commissioner Matthew Herbert
Commissioner Herbert is referring to an incident that occurred yesterday, the third this year:
http://www2.ljworld.com/...
The city of Lawrence says it is keeping an eye on water from the Kansas River after a sewer main leak in Topeka released about 55,000 gallons of raw sewage into the river Tuesday morning.
The most recent leak, however, is relatively small in comparison to an April leak in which more than 3 million gallons of raw/untreated sewage was released into the Kansas River.
Water Matters and other organizations have long campaigned against the release of volume sewage into fresh water sources, noting that it poses potential risks both long and short term.
http://www.water-matters.org/...
Release of untreated sewage into freshwater bodies is sometimes necessary. Yet, it not only creates a human health risk but damages the health of the receiving water bodies in over short or long time periods. Our responsibility to ecosystems means we should have the capacity to deal with our own waste rather than expecting the rest of the ecosystem to do it for us.
While sometimes necessary, it is generally to be avoided, as they note it may create longterm issues within the ecosystem if not handled correctly.
The city of Lawrence expects no health or other risks, however, the continued release of sewage into a river which comes to the Lawrence community is obviously not appreciated.
Topeka City offices had no comment on how they would respond should burning bags of dog feces appear.