Too Much Crap Has Always Been a Problem Here in Bay City
'No-Flush Thursday' May Be Answer to Both Sewage Overflow & Budget Concerns
December 4, 2006
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By: O. J. Cunningham
This budget process and sewage issue needs some serious 'looking into.'
Someone needs to take a long, hard look at the partially-treated, raw sewage issue in Bay City and how it relates to the 2007 budget issues for the City of Bay City.
Much of the city populace is in turmoil after hearing that certain City officials, along with the City Manager, have considered leaving the Liberty Bridge (Woodside) and the Harry Truman Bridge (Wilder) open all shipping season in an attempt to balance the 2007 city budget.
These officials seem to think that money saved from not paying bridge-tenders might make a significant impact on the city's financial situation.
So I got to thinking about the city's cash "flow" problem. (And you all know that I'm the kinda guy that's always looking to help out.)
So, I've been brain-"storming."
And just today, while reading the Sunday paper . . . It hit me . . . like a huge pile of crap . . .
I read in today's Bay City Times (page 2), that 30 million gallons of partially-treated, raw sewage was recently discharged
(flowed) into the Saginaw River because of the torrential rain
storm late last week.
There it was in black and white . . .
There's obviously too much crap in Bay City. From that point, it was a simple process to put two and two together. The answer is obvious. We have to do something to limit our crap. It's simple to me -
No Flush Thursday.
And the mere thought of limiting crap got me thinking about the City's budgetary problem again. (Imagine that?)
Here's what I came up with . . .
The city collects about $50 per month from about 20,000 homes and businesses in Bay City. That's about $15 million.
If we all agree to not flush on Thursday, that will reduce our usage about 15% and
save the city $1.8 million in fees to the Bay County Water Treatment Plant.
In addition, this would lower the amount of sewage that the County Water Treatment Plant would need to process each week. In the long run, this would certainly lower the incidence of partially-treated raw sewage being inadvertently dumped into the Saginaw River.
(1) We don't pay any more. (2) The city gets to balance the budget. (3) The county gets less sewage to spill into the Saginaw River. A win-win for everyone. It's as easy as 1-2-3.
How tough would it be to not flush on Thursday? It's just one day a week.
I asked my wife if it was more important (to her) to have open passage across the Wilder and Third Street bridges in the summertime or to be able to flush seven days a week . . .
Well, maybe she's not the right one to ask anyway . . . (I'm sure she probably didn't understand the seriousness of my question.) She muttered something to me about being
"full of it" and that I didn't have a boat anyway.
I'll go down to City Hall tomorrow and see if I can find someone that understands the seriousness of these budgetary matters and financial dealings. It's probably more of a man thing anyway.
As an information sidebar, you'll be happy to know that a Bangor Township treatment plant was responsible for the 50,000 gallons of partially-treated, raw sewage. The big flusher was again Saginaw, that juiced an unimaginable 29.5 million gallons of partially-treated, raw sewage (4) into our city-splitting waterway.
Click Here - If your wondering just how much space millions of gallons of partially-treated, raw sewage can fill . . .
O. J. Cunningham
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O. J. Cunningham is the Publisher of MyBayCity.com. Cunningham previously published Sports Page & Bay City Enterprise. He is the President/CEO of OJ Advertising, Inc.
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