Lake Closed

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers have determined Lake Texoma has a toxic algae caused by extreme heat and prolonged drought.

No swimming or fishing is to take place in the lake.  They say the lake is still open to boaters for Labor Day weekend.  WHO wants to be on a boat in 100 degree weather if you can't get in the water? 

There was a massive fish kill this week on Lake Grapevine. 

Seems like something is in the water...

Oh, that's right, WHAT water?

It Can Happen Anywhere

Two more children dead due to an amoeba they contracted by swimming in a river.  A teenage girl in Florida and a young boy in Virginia.

Last year in Texas, a young boy died from the same brain eating amoeba, Primary Amoebic Meningoecephalitis (PAM).  This amoeba thrives in slow moving and stagnant water, including rivers. His parents have started a foundation in his name. The Kyle Lewis Amoeba Awareness Foundation.

Bless all these kids and their families.  And bless Kyle's family for trying to protect others.

Let's hope no one who's "Tubing the Trinity" (or Rocking on the River) contracts this deadly disease which has no cure.  Seems a "news" station was going to do a story on that very thing last year.  Wonder WHO told them not to?

Texas Drought

Yahoo news does a story on a Texas lake turned blood red.

Why are the fish dead?
From a bacteria that thrives in oxygen deprived water.

Chromatiaceae bacteria.

WHO keeps telling you to come on down and get in the Trinity River for a float, on a tube?  The Tarrant Regional Water District and/or their corporation, the Trinity River Vision Authority. 

The article says many West Texas reservoirs have done dry.  Some are calling it the end of times...well, what do you think happens when WE run out of water?

We're in a drought, you know.

There is a comment on the article that seemed to sum it up.....

We should not be so worried about God ending the world, because we are doing a pretty good job.

Drought doesn't just apply to the weather...pay attention.  YOU can't afford not to.

Time for another Trinity River Rhyme

And unlike most things associated with the river, this didn't cost you a dime!

Keep 'em coming!

The river is fetid and warm,

So to tube you must fill in a form,

To forgive the promoters,

Who won't even be boaters,

On the waters that you all will swarm.

Not Rocking on the River

Would you get in the Trinity River?  We asked an average, lifelong Tarrant county citizen this question last week.  After they quit laughing hysterically, they told us in no uncertain terms, they would NEVER get in the Trinity River and the reasons why.  However, we can't repeat all that here.

Durango has some reasons why.  Between him and TRIP, we think they've got it covered.

Anyone seen the release form you have to sign to Tube the Trinity with the Trinity River Vision and the Tarrant Regional Water District?  There's a reason for the form, there are many of them.

What NOT to do this week

Read the latest Trinity River Vision scheme courtesy of Durango.  Good questions, anyone from the Trinity River Vision, Trinity River Vision Authority, Tarrant Regional Water District, District of Columbia, City of Fort Worth, or Tarrant County want to answer?

What is the reason the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle has added Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats to its vision? How much do the Happy Hours cost? Is the cost being covered completely by the sponsors?

Are J.D. Granger and his mom, Kay, going to be in the Trinity River on Thursday? If not, why not?

Then read about the Trinity River Improvement Partnership.  Get involved, if not for you, for YOUR kids.

If your friends jumped off a bridge...

Would you?

With the Trinity River Vision Authority tube the Trinity Happy Hour float kicking off today, we thought it was appropriate to remind you WHY you don't want in the Trinity River.
Next time the Tarrant Regional Water District or the Trinity River Vision Authority tells you to "jump on in" or Tube the Trinity River, remember this...and this...and this.

Don't buy the BS.  YOU can't afford it.

We like the new Tarrant Regional Water District logo.  (Wonder what that rebranding cost YOU?)  Looks a lot like the Trinity River Improvement Partnership logo.  We're sure it's just a coiencidence.

Trinity River Drowning

Fort Worth City officials presented two firefighters with awards at the recent City Council meeting for saving some folks from drowning on the Trinity River in Trinity Park.

Last year a man drowned there while trying to save his daughter.

Is this the reason the Tubing on the Trinity was moved?  Or was it the reason Durango pointed out?

Fort Worth gets Flood control

Finally!  A wakeboard park.

We did notice the "news" left out the words "flood control" following Trinity River Vision, that may be a first. 

"It introduces people to the river that otherwise would never jump in," Granger said.

People aren't jumping in for a reason. 

Read about it in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  You can't make this stuff up.

Meanwhile, on Rush Creek in Arlington 50 houses and 100 condos are being demolished due to repeated flooding.  Maybe they should get a wakeboard park too.

Flooding in the Shady Valley area has worsened over the decades as development has occurred along Rush Creek.

More Trinity River BS

Just when you think it can't get any dumber, it does.  Only in Fort Worth...you can't make this crap up.  It's the Fort Worth Way. 

Maybe the Trinity River Vision Authority and the Tarrant Regional Water District should attend a North Central Texas Council of Governments meeting on water quality in the Trinity River.  Oh wait, they did.  WHAT does that tell you?  Don't forget Jim Lane is a member of the Water Board.  As a mayoral candidate how does he let this entity mislead the public?

The Trinity River in Tarrant County is said to be one of the most contaminated portions of the river, it's also full of trash, alligators, snakes, PCB's and waste water. 

Please don't buy the BS.  It makes you dumber than them.
Read about the latest, sickest Trinity River Vision propaganda on Durango.  Where else.

Taxpayers Say - Enough Already!

Like it's not bad enough that the Trinity River Vision and its "Authority" already spends YOUR money to advertise to YOU, for YOU to pay for their development, they want YOU to pay to come listen to them.  You can't make this stuff up.  And apparently all YOUR money doesn't buy any creativity, we recently noticed some around town "borrowing" tag lines from some of our friends.  You know what they say about imitation.

BBN Fort Worth

Presents

Laura Mayberry Bacigalupo

Public Information Officer

Trinity River Vision Authority

Laura Bacigalupo has worked with the Trinity River Vision Authority since March of 2008. She manages the outreach efforts related to the Trinity River Vision project which includes the project’s website, newsletter, education center, media inquiries, presentations to community groups and other communication initiatives.

With project construction in full swing and tons of events planned up and down the river – this year is shaping up to be the most exciting year yet for The Trinity River Vision! You will not want to miss this opportunity to hear Ms. Bacigalupo discuss the many challenges the TRV faces and what the current and future projects holds for YOUR community.

PCBs everywhere...and not a drop to drink

Read about the Trinity River contamination in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  Oh goody, another "study". 

Some of these items were discussed at the recent NCTCOG TDML meeting (they didn't have an answer either) and the TRIP meeting Saturday.  

WHO says it's safe to swim in?  Just how contaminated will the Town Lake be?

PCBs have been in the Trinity for decades and have led to bans against consuming fish caught in the Clear Fork below the Benbrook Lake dam and the West Fork below the Lake Worth dam to the confluence of the Trinity in downtown Fort Worth. The ban then extends downstream all the way to the Freestone-Anderson county line.

PCBs degrade slowly and, if consumed over a long period, they can cause cancer and developmental problems as well as problems with the immune system, reproductive organs and liver.

Other than dredging, which would likely cause as many problems as it would solve, there have been no options for displacing them.

"It is also not seen as environmentally advantageous to dredge/remove the existing sediments especially in a river system," Grundmann said in written responses to the Star-Telegram's questions. "For these reasons, the state may look at other alternatives to a TMDL for PCBs in the Trinity River."

EPA Region 6 spokesman Dave Bary said finding an answer to PCB contamination in the Trinity "may take many years and will be resource-intensive."

"At the present time different program areas within EPA and TCEQ are working together with multiple stakeholders to address this problem in the Trinity River and other water bodies [creeks and streams] across the state," Bary said.

What Water Shortage - Part 2

As if to prove our point, the Star-Telegram has an article about water this morning.  Is it about the concerns for our water supply?  Nope, it's a another propaganda piece from none other than Bill Hanna, telling you it's safe to swim in the river.

Even though there have been many reports that the Trinity River in Tarrant County is the most polluted portion of the river, and the article itself points out that a certain percentage of the water testing has been over its limit of pollutants, it's still safe.  It would be funny, if it weren't so serious.

Someone ask Bill Hanna how much of a kick back he gets from the Tarrant Regional Water District and the Trinity River Vision Authority.  Inquiring minds want to know.

Andrew Sansom, the guy who said it's safe also says, "The biggest issues today in water quality are what we call nonpoint sources -- those are parking lots, highways runoff and agricultural sources -- things that are not coming from a pipe," Sansom said. "When it storms, everything just washes into the river or streams and we don't have an adequate means of protecting it."  He also said it should be tested weekly.

On the Clear Fork, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's 2010 Integrated Report showed an average of 116 E. coli colonies per 100 milliliters -- just below the state standard of 126 colonies per 100 milliliters. That was based on 67 samples.


In defending water recreation in the Trinity, city leaders and the water district have said most high bacteria events are triggered by floods or heavy storm-water runoff.

Under the old federal standards, if 25 percent of the samples exceeded the 126 level, that could also trigger regulatory action, Sullivan said. A study for the TCEQ estimated eight in 1,000 swimmers would get sick at the 126 level.

Over a nine-year-period, the City of Fort Worth's monthly sampling at Beach Street found 27 samples out of 120 that exceeded the 126 standard. At its Fourth Street sampling station, 23 out of 120 exceeded it. In the water district's quarterly samples at Beach Street, four of the 34 samples exceeded the state standard, and at Fourth Street, three out of 34 samples were above the 126 threshold.

More PCB's in Lake Worth

Read about it in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

How safe is it, really?

Trinity River Toilet

The Trinity River Vision/Riverside Park Plan draws more attention to the dirty dealings of the Trinity River and the Vision.

Water testing shows high levels of E. coli.  The Tarrant Regional Water District disagrees.  Show of hands on WHO is surprised by either of those statements.

Woody Frossard, the water district's environmental director, said the Friends of Riverside Park tested for fecal coliform bacteria rather than E. coli, which is the state standard. When the fecal coliform bacteria readings are translated into E. coli measurements, they are close to acceptable levels, Frossard said.

"They're right at the level identified by the state," Frossard said. "They're not out of the norm. It may or may not be a reportable event."

This is the same portion of the Trinity river that the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported as having the highest levels of PCB's.  And the same portion where the Trinity River Vision Authority is promoting tubing? WHO do YOU believe?

Read the article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  YOU can't afford not to.

Trinity River Trash

The portion of the Trinity River in Tarrant County is said to have more PCB's (toxins) than any other portion of the river.  And don't get us started on the trash in the river.

That's not stopping the Trinity River Vision Authority from looking at ways to make money off of it.  They want to make the Trinity a tubing destination.  Yes, you read that right.  Read about the latest scheme in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  Don't miss the comments from THE PEOPLE. 

And for those who question the wisdom of swimming in the Trinity, officials say it is safe for tubing. While there are warnings against consuming fish from stretches of the Clear and West forks through Fort Worth, there are no advisories against swimming.


The Trinity is not a spring-fed river like the Comal or the San Marcos, but Rockin' R thinks that plenty of others like Burnett and Schultz might be willing to go tubing in Fort Worth.

"I think it would be good for a lazy Saturday or Sunday afternoon, regardless of what the perception is," Wolf said.

Dirty Water

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram interviewed the City of Fort Worth concerning the concerns folks have with making Riverside Park a flood storage area.  Of course, the City says it's safe and the water quality is all good. And the Trinity River Vision will solve all your problems...well, they didn't say that exactly, that's just what they'd like you to believe.

Three short months ago the Fort Worth Star-Telegram claimed "And some of the highest poisonous readings of polychlorinated biphenyls -- or PCBs -- were found at sample sites in Tarrant County." 

So, which is it?  And WHO do you trust to tell you the truth? The City? The TRV planners?  The newspaper?
 
And if you store contaminated soil on this site, what happens when it floods?
 
While we are on the Riverside Park subject, what happened to the "northern expansion piece"? The land of an individual being threatened by eminent domain for the Trinity River Vision. 

Keep in mind, if they weren't messing with the river, they wouldn't need flood storage.

Click to watch a video about

the Riverside Park issue....

Something smells...

Read the latest on a new waste water system in Fort Worth in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Be sure and read the comments from the CITIZENS.