# Is the "toxic" NO water being pumped straight into lake Ponchatrain? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 8, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-toxic-no-water-being-pumped-straight-into-lake-ponchatrain/320671 "2005-09-08T16:40:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-toxic-no-water-being-pumped-straight-into-lake-ponchatrain/320671/21 "2005-09-10T01:26:31Z")
Nest summer’s special at the seafood market: Two-headed shrimp, 1 pound for $3.00 ! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-toxic-no-water-being-pumped-straight-into-lake-ponchatrain/320671/22 "2005-09-10T03:13:05Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I heard a radio talk show host refer to the water in New Orleans as “feces gumbo.” > > Now that’s an image that will linger. :eek: Let’s see there’s umm… feces-kabobs, feces creole, feces gumbo. Pan fried feces, deep fried feces, stir-fried feces. There’s pineapple feces, lemon feces, coconut feces, pepper feces, feces soup, feces stew, feces salad, feces and potatoes, feces burger, feces sandwich, and that… that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-toxic-no-water-being-pumped-straight-into-lake-ponchatrain/320671/23 "2005-09-10T12:57:12Z")
OK why does every business, city and town have to spend $$$$$$ to make sure their discharge into the lake is clean enough, and in one sweep it will be back to a toxic waste dump. Wouldn’t it be far cheaper to allow the bussinesses and munacipalities to have polluted all these years and just treat the waste pumped out from NO? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-toxic-no-water-being-pumped-straight-into-lake-ponchatrain/320671/24 "2005-09-10T15:36:28Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Let’s see there’s umm… feces-kabobs, feces creole, feces gumbo. Pan fried feces, deep fried feces, stir-fried feces. There’s pineapple feces, lemon feces, coconut feces, pepper feces, feces soup, feces stew, feces salad, feces and potatoes, feces burger, feces sandwich, and that… that’s about it. You forgot feces and grits. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-toxic-no-water-being-pumped-straight-into-lake-ponchatrain/320671/25 "2005-09-10T15:44:01Z")
Well, it’s nearly noon. Who wants jambalya for lunch? Yummy! ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-toxic-no-water-being-pumped-straight-into-lake-ponchatrain/320671/26 "2005-09-10T16:46:35Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > You forgot feces and grits. 😉 They also forgot feces and spam. ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-toxic-no-water-being-pumped-straight-into-lake-ponchatrain/320671/27 "2005-09-10T19:32:01Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > OK why does every business, city and town have to spend $$$$$$ to make sure their discharge into the lake is clean enough, and in one sweep it will be back to a toxic waste dump. Wouldn’t it be far cheaper to allow the bussinesses and munacipalities to have polluted all these years and just treat the waste pumped out from NO? That’s really good thinking there, if one assumes that for the last 50 years or so there has been an entry on the long-term environmental plan called ‘have catastrophic flood in New Orleans and then pump all the skanky water out into the lake’. I’m on the wrong side of the Atlantic to have all the details, but I got the impression that the flooding was ‘unplanned’, for want of a better word. My assumption is that the environmental authorities were hoping to have a nice clean lake for the residents of nice unflooded New Orleans to enjoy in perpetuity, although I have been wrong many times before. However, bearing in mind that all life on earth will eventually be wiped out by a huge meteor strike or the expansion of the sun, in the long term it really doesn’t make any sense to try to preserve ecosystems - perhaps you should bring this up at your next town meeting. ---
**Author:** ![Teter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Teter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teter)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-toxic-no-water-being-pumped-straight-into-lake-ponchatrain/320671/28 "2005-09-12T19:37:57Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > The EPA says there’s a lot of lead in the water, too, but they don’t know where it’s coming from. i’d lived in new orleans for alot of years (up until 3-months ago) and my guess on the lead would have to be simply the house paint. there is still an amazing number of houses with lead paint on them. actually the CCC (bridges crossing the river) were just in the news recently because during the renovation of them there was poor control of the lead based paint that was being blasted off them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-toxic-no-water-being-pumped-straight-into-lake-ponchatrain/320671.md?page=1)