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Special to BlueEdge...
| 'Franken-sewer' by joey racano Having spent years in Huntington Beach , where smooth barrels roll to shore with the consistency of butter melting on a golden pancake, my meeting the Central Coast was a culture shock of sorts. Dinosaurian rock formations jut dangerously from the surface of a chaotic and violent purple brew; churning, chopping and foaming- even the sharks are bigger here! A daily dose of the volatile Central Coast surf is like throwing on a wetsuit and hopping into an industrial washing machine set on 'cold', and the surfer girls from Pismo to Cayucos are not only tan, blonde and muscular- they can kick your ass! Unfortunately, rough water and sharks aren’t their only challenge. They deal with pollution from leaks, spills and dumping. Amazingly, they are rising to the task. In Pismo, water quality problems plague the areas economy and reputation, leaving clueless politicians to try blaming birds for it all, as was tried in Huntington Beach during the infamous 1999 beach closures on the Fourth of July. But the bronze-toned surfer girls did their research, brainstormed at a local coffee shop, and started showing up at Pismo City Council meetings on a regular basis. They dug up juicy information suggesting birds were only partly to blame, presented their findings via TV cameras to the folks watching at home -and looked good doing it, too! Even though pigeons are now being trapped, and fed to zoo animals, evidence suggests humans are at fault, and not just for feeding pigeons at Pismo Pier. The gals unearthed a document showing the city knew about sagging pipes (a sign of leakage) near the pier years before fixing it, and that Pismo Beach is part of a warped regional 'Franken-sewer' system where sewage from Pismo, Grover Beach, Oceano, Arroyo Grande and Shell Beach all get mixed together, treated to a lower level than they could be, and dumped into near shore coastal waters. Our ladies-of-the-surf want higher levels of wastewater treatment, and are willing to fight for it; but let's face it- it's so much easier to blame the pigeons. joey racano www.stopthewaiver.com let's save the world! Thanks Joey, that's perfect Talk to you later. Steve <")(((((>( |
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