Was Proper Trinity Testing Done Before Thursday's Rockin' The Sewage Happy Hour?

I think I have already mentioned earlier this week that a raw sewage carrying pipeline burst, sending a flood of untreated water into a creek which flows into the Trinity River a short distance upstream from the downtown Fort Worth location where America's Biggest Boondoggle hosts Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats at an imaginary pavilion near an imaginary island.

Spokesman for The Boondoggle claimed the raw sewage had been contained prior to posing a threat to the Trinity River and to those choosing to float in that dirty river. It was also claimed that testing indicated the water was safe, with that testing taking place prior to The Boondoggle's inaugural floating beer party of the year.

Well.

In an article this morning in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, titled Fort Worth pumps water out of Mary’s Creek after sewage spill we learn....

On Thursday, the city was collecting samples from the creek and from the Trinity River, which connects to the creek just west of Southwest Boulevard/Texas 183, Gugliuzza said.

The samples’ bacteria levels will be tested, and the results won’t be ready for a day or two, Gugliuzza said. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality was notified Wednesday.

People “definitely” need to stay out of the creek until further notice, Gugliuzza said.

The spill was not expected to affect drinking water, authorities said, but residents with private water wells within a half-mile of the spill site should boil or distill water before using it until further notice.

So, the Star-Telegram is reporting that on Thursday samples were collected from the Trinity River, to be tested, with those test results ready in a day or two.

So, how was it The Boondoggle was able to claim testing indicated the Trinity River water was free of dangerous pathogens, and thus safe to float in, that same Thursday the samples were taken, if the results of the testing were not available for a day or two after the scheduled floating beer party?

Like I think I have mentioned before, something just ain't right about Fort Worth.

It's like the town has the backwards mentality of an undeveloped small Southern town of a few thousand, instead of the mentality of a modern city of around 800,000.

Fort Worth is definitely the most un-sanitary town in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex mess. Fort Worth is the only town in the D/FW zone with multiple city parks with no running water and no modern restroom facilities of the non-outhouse variety.

A town being okay with having parks without modern restrooms, without a place to wash ones hands after using an outhouse, fits right in with a town having a mentality that it is okay to sponsor a water event in river water downstream from a raw sewage spill.

Now, I do not generalize to suggest that all the citizens of Fort Worth are okay with having their city parks so far behind modern times. Or having floating parties in the Trinity River. I am sure the majority of Fort Worth citizens would like to see their town modernized to a level at least matching other towns in their shared metropolitan zone.

Modernized like Haltom City, Keller, Watauga, North Richland Hills, Arlington, Grapevine, Dallas, well you get the drift.

Just this past Wednesday I enjoyed a pleasant picnic, under a shelter at Capp Smith Park in Watauga. The covered picnic area was connected to a modern restroom. Drinking fountains and running water were also near the covered picnic shelter.

What a concept.

I can not imagine a 21st century American city, other than Fort Worth, hosting embarrassing floating beer parties, with music, in water commonly believed to be dirty and polluted, let alone hosting such a thing after a big raw sewage spill  occurred a short distance upstream.

Fort Worth is badly led by bad leaders. I don't know why this is the case, but it is. No other large American city opened itself up to being poked by thousands of holes in the ground to be fracked with pollutants, along with other associated post poking pollutants damaging the life quality of its citizens.

It is a bit symbolic of Fort Worth's backwardness that at the site of the Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats you will also find no modern restrooms. Just a couple outhouses encased in cement enclosures. Methinks most modern American town's sense of civic pride would have the people of that town feeling a bit embarrassed to have permanent outhouses installed at what The Boondoggle propaganda claims is the premiere urban waterfront music venue in Texas.

I know, gag worthy and again embarrassing.

Fort Worth can and should and deserves to do better. The Good Ol' Boy and Girl Network, also known as the 7th Street Gang, needs to get the boot, with Fort Worth getting replacement leadership which truly represents all the people of Fort Worth, improving all areas of the city for all the people of the city.

As it is, Fort Worth just keeps falling further and further behind the rest of America, and its own suburbs.

Like I said, embarrassing....

America's Biggest Boondoggle Rockin' The Raw Sewage Spill Happy Hour Inner Tube Float

Incoming couple of screencaps from, I assume, Facebook, from Elsie Hotpepper.

Recently I learned of a massive pipe break which was dumping a HUGE volume of untreated sewage into a creek which runs into the Clear Fork of the Trinity River a short distance upstream from the location where America's Biggest Boondoggle holds its Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats at an imaginary pavilion near an imaginary island near downtown Fort Worth.

The Boondoggle has been touting that floating in the Trinity River is no different than floating in the water you drink, since the water the floaters float in flows from the Benbrook and Lake Worth reservoirs.

The Boondoggle spokespeople, in their various propaganda venues, claim the reason the Trinity River is the murky muddy color of flowing feces is that the river has a clay river bottom, unlike the river bottoms further south in Texas where the water runs clear, with thousands of tubers.

The Lake Worth reservoir, in addition to being known for being good drinking water, of late has been more known for its alligator infestation.

The TRWD and The Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision, claim that the raw sewage was somehow magically stopped before any of the voluminous spill made its way the short distance to the Trinity.

The TRWD has one sane board director member, Mary Kelleher.

This is what Mary Kelleher had to say about the absurdity of The Boondoggle going ahead with tonight's fetid float in the Trinity....

For the record, as a director on the TRWD board, I asked TRWD administration to cancel the event tonight just in case the waste made it's way into the Trinity.  I was told the FW officials in charge of clean up assured TRWD the waste had been captured and  did not enter the Trinity. I was also told the Trinity was tested Tuesday and showed the water to be safe. 

I personally disagree with the TRWD's decision to encourage the public to float in the Trinity after a significant spill of sewage upstream.

__________________

This month there has been a Flesh Eating Bacteria outbreak on the Texas Gulf Coast. Pathogens in water can be dangerous, even in places where one might assume the water to be safe, like salt water churned by waves.

Most Fort Worth locals would never consider getting wet in the Trinity River.

Why would anyone with any semblance of common sense get in that river days after a massive raw sewage leak occurred a short distance upstream? Why would any responsible public agency sign on with encouraging people to get in a river after such an incident?

Beyond bizarre, beyond perplexing. I am so glad I no longer live in Fort Worth. Something just ain't right about that town....

Today I Made It Past Tandy Hill's Raw Sewage Ruts To The Crystal Clear Water Of Tandy Falls

The Crystal Clear Waters Of Tandy Creek

In the picture you are looking at ripples in the crystal clear water beneath Tandy Falls, with the ripples caused by the falls falling over the Tandy Escarpment.

It is a miracle of the cleansing nature of Mother Nature that the waters of Tandy Creek are back running clear.

Today I parked on top of Mount Tandy and made my way down the north side of the mountain to the site of the recent massive raw sewage spill that ran in to Tandy Creek and then in to the Trinity River, eventually making it all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

I can not help but wonder how many municipalities downstream from Fort Worth take their drinking water from the Trinity River?

I can also not help but wonder if the City of Fort Worth warned municipalities downstream that a massive raw sewage spill had contaminated the Trinity River?

Or is raw sewage spilling into creeks and rivers just the norm in this part of the planet and not worthy of concern? Or worthy of letting anyone know you've had a bad boo-boo?

Tandy Highway Massive Raw Sewage Ruts

In the picture on the left you are looking at the extremely rutted remains of the sewage sludge left behind on the Tandy Highway by the recent raw sewage spill.

As you can see, the most recent work on the pipelines has left the area even more rutted than it was a couple days ago.

It was a bit of a challenge to make my way to the crystal clear waters of Tandy Creek, avoiding stepping where raw sewage recently flowed.

But I made it.

Give it time and the scars of this most recent man-made environmental damage to the Tandy Hills will heal.

I hope.

Looking At The Dry Tandy Raw Sewage River Wondering If Fort Worth Is The Leakiest City In America

Tandy Raw Sewage Semi-Dried Riverbed

It was not all that many degrees above freezing when I hit the Hills of Tandy today to run at high speed up 7 hills, both to warm myself up and to finally get rid of feeling bloated from yesterday's Super Bowl overindulgence.

As I was nearing the end of today's endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation, a convoy of Fort Worth Water Works trucks was making its way down the Tandy Highway towards the site of the recent massive raw sewage spill.

A convoy of Fort Worth Water Works trucks makes quite a loud racket, with a lot of beeping and revving engines, disrupting the peace and quiet of the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium Area.

As you see in the picture above, the river of raw sewage has ceased flowing down the Tandy Highway.

What remains is a riverbed of raw sewage muck.

Perhaps the convoy of Fort Worth Water Works trucks was heading towards doing some environmental cleanup.

I suspect, though, that that was not the case.

I really don't think very many people in this part of the planet are all that concerned about raw sewage flowing into creeks and rivers.

Though there was a matter of fact mention in this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram of the chronic problem of Fort Worth's water pipes and sanitary sewer pipes, breaking and spilling.

But, as we all know, we have more important things to worry about spending money on in Fort Worth than the water/sewer infrastructure. Or sidewalks.

The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle and its billion dollar price tag, that's the priority project for this town.

A town in dire need of having a little lake, some canals and an un-needed flood diversion channel to replace flood control levees which have worked fine for longer than half a century.

With all of Fort Worth's water main and sanitary sewer breaks I wonder if the town can lay claim to being the leakiest town in America?

Yet one more thing about Fort Worth that has towns far and wide Green with Envy.

Checking On The Tandy Hills Brush Bashers & The No Longer Flowing Tandy Raw Sewage River

Tandy Brush Bashers In Action

Today, Saturday, was the day scheduled for those who feel the need to bash brush, to do so on the Tandy Hills.

Personally, I have no particular aversion to non-native vegetation wreaking havoc with the natural state of the Tandy Hills Natural Prairie.

So, I don't bash brush.

Now, if there was a Tandy Hills Wrecked Vehicles Bash, that I might participate in.

I probably would not participate in a Tandy Hills Creek Litter Bash, due to the fact that it seems so futile. You bash the litter, and then it quickly returns.

I might sign on to a Tandy Hills Sanitary Sewer Line Bash, due to the fact that the sewer lines which run through the Tandy Hills seem to regularly add an unwanted natural element to the hills.

Sanitary Sewer Workers Plugging A Raw Sewage Leak

Today I was pleased to see that the raging river of raw sewage that had turned the Tandy Highway into the Tandy Raw Sewage River, has been stopped.

As you can see in the picture, Fort Worth Sanitary Sewer work trucks were on the job today.

I walked up to one of the Sanitary Sewer workers. He asked if I was lost. I said I was not lost, I was hiking.

He then told me I did not want to go that way, pointing towards the former river of raw sewage, telling me that it was too muddy to walk on.

I told him I knew about the sewer break. I asked if it was fixed. He said that it was. He then shook his head and said it was really bad.

The Sanitary Sewer Worker then told me to "take care". Since English was not his first language I don't think he realized that this trite cliche was a bit out of place.

It is going to be awhile before I walk on the ground where so much raw sewage flowed. All that fertilizer should sprout some interesting vegetation in a couple months.