1. Why are sewage ponds such hot places for birds, and

2. Is there any risk to wildlife associated with exposure to water
treatment facility effluents?
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Julie Fukuda
tamarack at teleport.com


1.Sewage treatment ponds are shallow, rich in nutrients and plankton, warm
& therefore free of ice and relatively free of humans. They're usually
surrounded by a buffer zone of trees and fields. What better place to hang
out, even if feeding elsewhere?

2.None that we know of, nor is there any known risk to humans who wander
around them. The ponds are very well aerated and avian botulism doesn't
appear to pose a risk. Effluents per se are chlorinated to prevent the
dissemination of human pathogens and we haven't had a problem in that area
for some time. (Shellfish beds are closed to harvesting due to the
presence of indicator bacteria (E. coli), presumably of human origin,
usually from failed septic tanks, but not necessarily toxic to "man nor
beast.")

Herb Curl

h.curl at hazmat.noaa.gov "You may be only young once but you can be
Hazmat/NOAA, 7600 Sand Pt. Wy., NE immature the rest of your life."
Seattle, WA 98115-0070
(206) 526-6272