The sewage dumped into Juan De Fuca from Victoria and environs isn't as bad as it sounds (raw sewage), though I do admit trepidation when storm paddling in churned-up seas where a known tidal influence not only flushes the waste away from the outfall close by eventually, but also can bring it to the surface (and make for awesome standing waves for those who can brave the conditions that propagate them). http://wikimapia.org/979648/Trial-Island It only causes considerable consternation if you think about it too much. Yeah. And close your mouth when you roll. And oh yeah, don't rub your eyes or lick your lips. What water-born pathogens myself, or other Victoria-based paddlers have succumbed to where the causative environment was this play area, we will never know. Seems though that I did get less sick and suffered lots less death-defying infectious disease episodes since moving down-strait to East Sooke to get my jollies a number of years ago. Sewage treatment status-quo support: http://www.rstv.ca/is-victoria-dumping-raw-sewage/ Of course, the more serious consequence is for divers off the Victoria waterfront, where various critters that enjoy a feeding frenzy on our effluent (who knew my Big Mac would eventually work into the food chain at the sub-aquatic level growing bigger denizens of the deep). While not as bad as necrotizing fasciitis, this diver's face was the result of encountering one of these critters, a big octopus: http://www.blueplanetdivers.org/images/OctoTrxW_0328.jpg/OctoTrxW_0328-thumb .jpg Of course, if anyone would like to see a picture of my raw, debrided leg immediately post op, give me a PM. Might make you give up paddling when the water turns brown, if ya know what I mean. Maybe that IS a silly time to be on the water. Then again, just breathing the air in California is way more dangerous than up here. Oh crap, we are a frail species aren't we? Doug Lloyd Mark Sanders wrote: > I was going to say you and Steve were Party Poopers, but that seems to > describe the water so much better! > On 1/22/2010 10:45 PM, Kevin wrote: >> I have to agree with Steve that you paddling in that toilet water was >> not too bright, to put it politely :) I hope you stay healthy after >> your "sewage paddle." Two data points for you, Mark: For many years, we had a "straight run" sewage disposal system in my town (ended about 1970) into the Columbia River ... with a few isolated houses in the subdistrict of Alderbrook still straight shots through about 1990 ... into the lagoon my son and his buddies regularly swam in. Nobody got sick. On the other side of the coin, Doug Lloyd got a case of flesh eating bacteria in his calf maybe 5 years ago, perhaps related to the existing straight shot the City of Victoria maintains into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. "I'm just sayin'." -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Jan 25 2010 - 10:06:06 PST
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:39 PDT
