Bright blue/green pond in foreground is part of Triple PG’s wastewater pit.
Likely Cause is Chloride Buildup
What is it then? “When you wash sand and gravel,” he said, “you often get very blue water. Most times it is high in chlorides. The chlorides discourage bacterial growth, or for that matter any life. The water is just too salty.”
Sand going to a big “washing machine.” The wastewater is then channeled to……a pond where silt settles out of the chloride-laden wastewater.Over time, the chloride concentration builds up and causes water to change color.
“Once a mine’s ponds get super saturated, they are no use to miners. That’s because they can’t wash the sand and gravel clean any more and they have to get rid of the water.”
Water-quality expert
“If it’s not chloride free,” he continued, “they can’t sell the sand because the chlorides will attack steel, such as rebar and girders, used to reinforce concrete. They also have to wash the sand used for pipeline bedding. If it’s not chloride free, the chlorides will attack the steel in the pipe over time.”
A construction manager for a major Houston refinery confirmed that chloride pitting and chloride cracking are indeed major concerns for pipelines. Not even stainless steels are immune.
Another part of the main wastewater pond at Triple PG mine
Saltwater Once Covered Entire Area
Where did the chlorides come from? The water-quality expert said, “This was a marine environment at one time, covered by saltwater. Over time, evaporation concentrated the chlorides and they were trapped by a confining layer…probably clay. Now that they are mining and washing material, the chlorides are the only thing left,” he continued.
“We used to see mines create dikes that were designed to fail in the event of a flood or heavy rain. If the chloride concentration got too high before a rain event, they would simply pump the salty water over the dike at night. Then they would replace it with fresh water and start the washing process over again. Dilution is the solution to pollution.”
Rapidly Changing Color Could Reveal Unauthorized Discharge
“If you continue to monitor this mine and the color disappears overnight, it’s a problem,” said the water-quality expert. That’s what I used to see often. The pond would become saturated and no longer usable. Then they would flush it out and it was usable again.”
The Triple PG mine currently operates under a temporary injunction and heightened scrutiny.
A Travis County judge set the trial date for June 22, 2020.
Flimsy Fixes to Other Dikes Remain
While the mine waits for trial, it has sealed those two breaches. But other prior breaches sport flimsy fixes that could wash out in the next large rain and discharge this water into the surrounding creeks. The mine has also been photographed pumping wastewater onto neighboring properties.
On 12/3/2019, I photographed the mine discharging waste water from what is now the blue pond onto neighboring properties.Site of repeated breach into Caney Creek from Triple PG mine (background), photographed on March 3, 2020.Site of another repeated breach into Caney Creek (left)from Triple PG mine, also photographed on March 3, 2020.
Potential Trouble Regardless of Cause of Color Change
Whether the color is due to high chloride content or cyanobacteria, it still poses a threat to drinking water. Chlorides would still need to be filtered out of drinking water pulled from Lake Houston. Cyanobacteria are worse. They often create toxins.
A World Health Organization (WHO) book called “Toxic Cyanobacteria in Water: A guide to their public health consequences, monitoring and management” claims WHO has found no documented cases of human deaths due to cyanotoxins. However, there have found many documented cases of animal poisonings. The most likely result of human exposure: dermatitis, “swimmer’s itch,” and severe oral and gastrointestinal inflammation. They also say cyanotoxins promote tumors in mice.
The Triple PG mine underscores the danger of allowing sand mines to operate in floodways and flush their wastewater downstream into the drinking water of 2 million people.
I will continue to monitor the color of the water to see if it changes rapidly.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/9/2020
984 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 233 since Imelda
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
This is a rare, off-topic post. Flooding is one of the most heart-breaking things that families can experience. But this morning, I received two emails from my daughter-in-law, Dr. Aylin Ulku, that are even sadder. They describe health care delivery in the Four Corners area. The first email contained photos of doctors making rounds in a motel. The second was a link to a post by her colleagues called “I’m Sorry.” It describes the plight of a people and their caregivers in poetic terms. Make sure you read all the way to the end. Warning: Keep Kleenex handy.
Delivering Health Care in Motels from Sidewalk
Dr. Ulku is a professor of medicine at the University of California/San Francisco. She is currently helping to deliver COVID-care in Gallup, NM, as part of the University’s HEAL Initiative. If you’ve never been to Gallup, it borders the Navajo, Hopi and Zuni Nations.
She and her fellows currently work in four locations: Gallup; Fort Defiance, AZ; Chinle, AZ; and Shiprock, NM. In Gallup, which is the largest of those towns and on Interstate 40, she and her team are delivering heath care in motels.
She writes, “I attached a few photos of my colleague, Bassem (from UCSF) and Michelle (a Navajo nurse) as we make rounds on patients in the motels. We check in on their symptoms and about once a day transfer back to the ED (emergency department) as they get sicker. It’s amazing and complicated…an incredibly satisfying, but bizarre kind of community work.”
“This is the process in general: knock on door, find out how someone is doing, fill any meds needed and get them delivered, check oxygen, rarely examine fully with listening to lungs or examining wounds.”
Bassem, one of Dr. Ulku’s fellows with Michelle, a Navajo nurse at the El Rancho Hotel in Gallup
The initial greeting
Checking on patients from the doorway
Health care delivery from a backpack
Why the motels? It seems many unhoused, unsheltered folks have no other option. Many live in multi-generational homes and are afraid of exposing loved ones. Some are not sick enough to be in a hospital yet, but are still symptomatic. And some simply don’t have a way home.
“I’m Sorry”
Two of Dr. Ulku’s colleague’s wrote this incredibly powerful and moving story published in Medium. Samuel Percy, MD, is an anesthesiologist and Carlie Field, MD, is an obstetrician and gynecologist. They also currently work on Navajo Nation.
Written by HEAL Fellows Samuel Percy, MD and Carlie Field, MD
Dear beautiful girl,
I’m sorry. I’m sorry I was the first face you saw when you were born. I’m sorry I was the one to welcome you into the world wearing a white space helmet with a motor whirring to keep any trace of you from touching me. I’m sorry you only felt the semblance of human embrace through the double-layered dullness of my sterile gloved hands. I’m sorry we took you away from your mother. I’m sorry your head first lay on the firm bed of an incubator rather than your mother’s warm chest.
I’m sorry you heard the harsh beeps of our machines instead of the delicate coo of your mother’s voice singing the lullabies she learned from her grandmother. I’m sorry you spent your first seconds, minutes and hours down the hall from her with strangers robed in disposable, blue, plastic gowns. I’m sorry we were the first to bathe you, scrubbing away any remaining signs of the woman who brought you into this world. I’m sorry they told us it was to keep you safe.
I’m sorry. I’m sorry there wasn’t running water in your house so your grandmother couldn’t wash her hands. I’m sorry your lights flickered off when food was more important than gas to power the generator. I’m sorry we were culturally blind to how deeply togetherness and family are woven into the bedrock of your community making physical distancing illogical.
I’m sorry your mother couldn’t tell you the stories she learned from your cheii. I’m sorry the hospital was two hours away. I’m sorry the rutted, dirt road washed out when it rained. I’m sorry your resilient grandmother had to know so much suffering. I’m sorry there weren’t enough jobs where you live. I’m sorry your uncle had to work in the city. I’m sorry he had a cough.
I’m sorry. I’m sorry Dr. Li Wenliang’s warnings were forcibly silenced. I’m sorry we knew this was coming and chose to do nothing. I’m sorry we didn’t act fast enough. I’m sorry we ignored the recommendations of public health experts. I’m sorry we didn’t take this seriously. I’m sorry we didn’t have enough tests.
I’m sorry the President of the United States called it fake news. I’m sorry spring break on the beach was more important. I’m sorry this wasn’t just like the flu. I’m sorry there weren’t enough masks. I’m sorry we couldn’t flatten the curve. I’m sorry we were too late. I’m sorry that 100,000 deaths was a job well done.
I’m sorry. I’m sorry I was the last one to talk to your grandmother. I’m sorry the virus was so infectious. I’m sorry she had a fever on the day you were born. I’m sorry she couldn’t catch her breath. I’m sorry there was no effective treatment. I’m sorry I was so scared, yet she was so brave. I’m sorry I had to place a breathing tube. I’m sorry I pushed her onto the waters of the Lethe, but couldn’t guide her to the other shore.
I’m sorry there weren’t enough nurses. I’m sorry that it was too hard to prone her. I’m sorry she was alone when she died. I’m sorry she stepped out of the world just days after you stepped into it. I’m sorry she was just one of 1,864 deaths that day. I’m sorry they called me a “hero.”
I hope. I hope you never let us forget. I hope the schools reopen and you learn what we couldn’t. I hope the cafeteria is bustling with the laughter of children at lunchtime. I hope you get a chance to play basketball. I hope fans crowd in and cheer loudly for your games. I hope they drill you a well for your home. I hope there are more jobs when you grow up and you don’t have to choose between food and electricity.
I hope you have children and grandchildren. I hope you sing them lullabies. I hope you tell them we tried. I hope you tell them we could have done better. I hope you know you were the light that kept us going. I hope people tell you about your grandmother. I hope you know she was proud of you. I hope they tell you she cried when she heard you were born. I hope you know she loved you.
In solidarity,
Your doctors
COVID In the Navajo Nation
Navajo Nation is the largest Native American reservation in the United States with approximately 170,000 Navajo people living within its borders. As of this writing, there are 1,675 cases of COVID-19 in Navajo Nation making it one of the hardest-hit areas in the United States per capita and the numbers continue to rise. Teams are working hard to control the virus, but because of poorly funded health systems, long-standing structural violence, and the high prevalence of comorbidities that increase susceptibility to COVID-19, the disease’s spread is unrelenting. Please consider making a donation to support Navajo and Hopi families during this challenging time at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/NHFC19Relief
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/8/2020
983 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Peek.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=17201280adminadmin2020-05-08 12:42:572020-05-08 16:20:06Sadder Than Flooding: “I’m Sorry”
Harris County Flood Control District’s final report on the May 7, 2019, storm indicates that 415 homes flooded in all of Harris County. It also indicates that 380 of those bordered Perry Homes’ Woodridge Village development across the county line in Montgomery County.
That’s a whopping 91.5% of all flooded homes in the most populous county in the State. And the third most populous in the nation.
Report Cites Sheet Flow from Woodridge Village as Potential Cause
The heaviest rain that day fell on northeast Harris and southeast Montgomery Counties. However, the report also cited “large volumes of sheet flow” from Woodridge Village as the potential cause of flooding for those bordering the development. A jury in Harris County will decide the cause in two months.
At the time, Perry Homes’ contractors had clearcut virtually the entire 268-acre development but had only completed about 7% of the detention ponds.
High-water rescues in progress the night of May 7, 2019, on Shady Maple in Elm Grove Village, Kingwood. About one block south of Woodridge Village.
For official reports on this and other storms, see the Reports Page of this website. Click on the Major Storms tab.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/8/2020
983 Days after Hurricane Harvey and 367 Days after the May 7th Storm
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Waist-e1588946935147.jpg?fit=1200%2C1057&ssl=110571200adminadmin2020-05-08 09:34:062020-05-08 10:04:56One Year Ago: 415 Homes Flooded in All of Harris County; 380 of Those Bordered Woodridge Village
Triple PG Sand Mine Turns Blue-Green
Aerial photos of the Triple PG sand mine in Porter taken on April 21, 2020, showed several of the ponds turning a bright blue/green (cyan).
Expert Believes Color Not Due to Cyanobacteria
A retired water-quality expert, who used to work for the City of Houston and who wishes to remain anonymous, reviewed the photos. He felt cyanobacteria, similar to the type reported in February on the West Fork San Jacinto, did NOT create the color . “You don’t see the subtle layering common with cyanobacteria,” he said.
Likely Cause is Chloride Buildup
What is it then? “When you wash sand and gravel,” he said, “you often get very blue water. Most times it is high in chlorides. The chlorides discourage bacterial growth, or for that matter any life. The water is just too salty.”
“If it’s not chloride free,” he continued, “they can’t sell the sand because the chlorides will attack steel, such as rebar and girders, used to reinforce concrete. They also have to wash the sand used for pipeline bedding. If it’s not chloride free, the chlorides will attack the steel in the pipe over time.”
A construction manager for a major Houston refinery confirmed that chloride pitting and chloride cracking are indeed major concerns for pipelines. Not even stainless steels are immune.
Saltwater Once Covered Entire Area
Where did the chlorides come from? The water-quality expert said, “This was a marine environment at one time, covered by saltwater. Over time, evaporation concentrated the chlorides and they were trapped by a confining layer…probably clay. Now that they are mining and washing material, the chlorides are the only thing left,” he continued.
“We used to see mines create dikes that were designed to fail in the event of a flood or heavy rain. If the chloride concentration got too high before a rain event, they would simply pump the salty water over the dike at night. Then they would replace it with fresh water and start the washing process over again. Dilution is the solution to pollution.”
Rapidly Changing Color Could Reveal Unauthorized Discharge
“If you continue to monitor this mine and the color disappears overnight, it’s a problem,” said the water-quality expert. That’s what I used to see often. The pond would become saturated and no longer usable. Then they would flush it out and it was usable again.”
Triple PG Plagued by Legal Troubles
The State Attorney General is suing the Triple PG mine for unauthorized discharges of process water and dikes that remained open for months.
The mine sits near the confluence of White Oak and Caney Creeks. A TCEQ investigation found that two breaches in the mine’s dikes – one facing each creek – allowed the water from one creek to wash through the pit and into the other creek.
A Travis County judge set the trial date for June 22, 2020.
Flimsy Fixes to Other Dikes Remain
While the mine waits for trial, it has sealed those two breaches. But other prior breaches sport flimsy fixes that could wash out in the next large rain and discharge this water into the surrounding creeks. The mine has also been photographed pumping wastewater onto neighboring properties.
Potential Trouble Regardless of Cause of Color Change
Whether the color is due to high chloride content or cyanobacteria, it still poses a threat to drinking water. Chlorides would still need to be filtered out of drinking water pulled from Lake Houston. Cyanobacteria are worse. They often create toxins.
A World Health Organization (WHO) book called “Toxic Cyanobacteria in Water: A guide to their public health consequences, monitoring and management” claims WHO has found no documented cases of human deaths due to cyanotoxins. However, there have found many documented cases of animal poisonings. The most likely result of human exposure: dermatitis, “swimmer’s itch,” and severe oral and gastrointestinal inflammation. They also say cyanotoxins promote tumors in mice.
The Triple PG mine underscores the danger of allowing sand mines to operate in floodways and flush their wastewater downstream into the drinking water of 2 million people.
I will continue to monitor the color of the water to see if it changes rapidly.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/9/2020
984 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 233 since Imelda
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
Sadder Than Flooding: “I’m Sorry”
This is a rare, off-topic post. Flooding is one of the most heart-breaking things that families can experience. But this morning, I received two emails from my daughter-in-law, Dr. Aylin Ulku, that are even sadder. They describe health care delivery in the Four Corners area. The first email contained photos of doctors making rounds in a motel. The second was a link to a post by her colleagues called “I’m Sorry.” It describes the plight of a people and their caregivers in poetic terms. Make sure you read all the way to the end. Warning: Keep Kleenex handy.
Delivering Health Care in Motels from Sidewalk
Dr. Ulku is a professor of medicine at the University of California/San Francisco. She is currently helping to deliver COVID-care in Gallup, NM, as part of the University’s HEAL Initiative. If you’ve never been to Gallup, it borders the Navajo, Hopi and Zuni Nations.
She and her fellows currently work in four locations: Gallup; Fort Defiance, AZ; Chinle, AZ; and Shiprock, NM. In Gallup, which is the largest of those towns and on Interstate 40, she and her team are delivering heath care in motels.
She writes, “I attached a few photos of my colleague, Bassem (from UCSF) and Michelle (a Navajo nurse) as we make rounds on patients in the motels. We check in on their symptoms and about once a day transfer back to the ED (emergency department) as they get sicker. It’s amazing and complicated…an incredibly satisfying, but bizarre kind of community work.”
“This is the process in general: knock on door, find out how someone is doing, fill any meds needed and get them delivered, check oxygen, rarely examine fully with listening to lungs or examining wounds.”
Why the motels? It seems many unhoused, unsheltered folks have no other option. Many live in multi-generational homes and are afraid of exposing loved ones. Some are not sick enough to be in a hospital yet, but are still symptomatic. And some simply don’t have a way home.
“I’m Sorry”
Two of Dr. Ulku’s colleague’s wrote this incredibly powerful and moving story published in Medium. Samuel Percy, MD, is an anesthesiologist and Carlie Field, MD, is an obstetrician and gynecologist. They also currently work on Navajo Nation.
Written by HEAL Fellows Samuel Percy, MD and Carlie Field, MD
Dear beautiful girl,
I’m sorry. I’m sorry I was the first face you saw when you were born. I’m sorry I was the one to welcome you into the world wearing a white space helmet with a motor whirring to keep any trace of you from touching me. I’m sorry you only felt the semblance of human embrace through the double-layered dullness of my sterile gloved hands. I’m sorry we took you away from your mother. I’m sorry your head first lay on the firm bed of an incubator rather than your mother’s warm chest.
I’m sorry you heard the harsh beeps of our machines instead of the delicate coo of your mother’s voice singing the lullabies she learned from her grandmother. I’m sorry you spent your first seconds, minutes and hours down the hall from her with strangers robed in disposable, blue, plastic gowns. I’m sorry we were the first to bathe you, scrubbing away any remaining signs of the woman who brought you into this world. I’m sorry they told us it was to keep you safe.
I’m sorry. I’m sorry there wasn’t running water in your house so your grandmother couldn’t wash her hands. I’m sorry your lights flickered off when food was more important than gas to power the generator. I’m sorry we were culturally blind to how deeply togetherness and family are woven into the bedrock of your community making physical distancing illogical.
I’m sorry your mother couldn’t tell you the stories she learned from your cheii. I’m sorry the hospital was two hours away. I’m sorry the rutted, dirt road washed out when it rained. I’m sorry your resilient grandmother had to know so much suffering. I’m sorry there weren’t enough jobs where you live. I’m sorry your uncle had to work in the city. I’m sorry he had a cough.
I’m sorry. I’m sorry Dr. Li Wenliang’s warnings were forcibly silenced. I’m sorry we knew this was coming and chose to do nothing. I’m sorry we didn’t act fast enough. I’m sorry we ignored the recommendations of public health experts. I’m sorry we didn’t take this seriously. I’m sorry we didn’t have enough tests.
I’m sorry the President of the United States called it fake news. I’m sorry spring break on the beach was more important. I’m sorry this wasn’t just like the flu. I’m sorry there weren’t enough masks. I’m sorry we couldn’t flatten the curve. I’m sorry we were too late. I’m sorry that 100,000 deaths was a job well done.
I’m sorry. I’m sorry I was the last one to talk to your grandmother. I’m sorry the virus was so infectious. I’m sorry she had a fever on the day you were born. I’m sorry she couldn’t catch her breath. I’m sorry there was no effective treatment. I’m sorry I was so scared, yet she was so brave. I’m sorry I had to place a breathing tube. I’m sorry I pushed her onto the waters of the Lethe, but couldn’t guide her to the other shore.
I’m sorry there weren’t enough nurses. I’m sorry that it was too hard to prone her. I’m sorry she was alone when she died. I’m sorry she stepped out of the world just days after you stepped into it. I’m sorry she was just one of 1,864 deaths that day. I’m sorry they called me a “hero.”
I hope. I hope you never let us forget. I hope the schools reopen and you learn what we couldn’t. I hope the cafeteria is bustling with the laughter of children at lunchtime. I hope you get a chance to play basketball. I hope fans crowd in and cheer loudly for your games. I hope they drill you a well for your home. I hope there are more jobs when you grow up and you don’t have to choose between food and electricity.
I hope you have children and grandchildren. I hope you sing them lullabies. I hope you tell them we tried. I hope you tell them we could have done better. I hope you know you were the light that kept us going. I hope people tell you about your grandmother. I hope you know she was proud of you. I hope they tell you she cried when she heard you were born. I hope you know she loved you.
In solidarity,
Your doctors
COVID In the Navajo Nation
Navajo Nation is the largest Native American reservation in the United States with approximately 170,000 Navajo people living within its borders. As of this writing, there are 1,675 cases of COVID-19 in Navajo Nation making it one of the hardest-hit areas in the United States per capita and the numbers continue to rise. Teams are working hard to control the virus, but because of poorly funded health systems, long-standing structural violence, and the high prevalence of comorbidities that increase susceptibility to COVID-19, the disease’s spread is unrelenting. Please consider making a donation to support Navajo and Hopi families during this challenging time at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/NHFC19Relief
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/8/2020
983 Days since Hurricane Harvey
One Year Ago: 415 Homes Flooded in All of Harris County; 380 of Those Bordered Woodridge Village
Harris County Flood Control District’s final report on the May 7, 2019, storm indicates that 415 homes flooded in all of Harris County. It also indicates that 380 of those bordered Perry Homes’ Woodridge Village development across the county line in Montgomery County.
Report Cites Sheet Flow from Woodridge Village as Potential Cause
The heaviest rain that day fell on northeast Harris and southeast Montgomery Counties. However, the report also cited “large volumes of sheet flow” from Woodridge Village as the potential cause of flooding for those bordering the development. A jury in Harris County will decide the cause in two months.
For official reports on this and other storms, see the Reports Page of this website. Click on the Major Storms tab.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/8/2020
983 Days after Hurricane Harvey and 367 Days after the May 7th Storm