Aquarium gets exemption on bay dumping

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by Podaker

i guess it's ok to take a dump in a MPA

This is more about California bureaucracy then anything else.

Back in 2004 some genius at water resources decided to classify all the two million gallons seawater the Aquarium pumps through it's tanks and exhibits each day as "waste-water discharge" because in theory it has a small amount of fish shit in it when it goes back in the bay.

This is like saying the water that comes out of your bait tank when you have a few macks in it is "waste-water discharge" and your breaking the law if you run your bait tank in the reserve.

The Aquarium then had to file for a special exception since Pacific Grove where it's located was designated A State Area of Special Biological Significance since back in 1983. The irony is that the only reason Pacific Grove got it's special status is because of the Aquarium. When they built it they designated the ocean around it as a "Special" marine area.

Of course that simple fact that the "Special" status only existed because of the Aquarium eluded the water board and they demanded studies and some kind of action.

So millions of dollars were wasted as they did studies, wrote up various papers and presentations, and had countless meetings.... To finally come to the conclusion that the 2 million Gallons of water pumped in and out of the Aquarium each day was not really waste water in the traditional sense, that it poses no hazard to the environment, and except for a few insignificant trace copper readings in tests, it's actually no dirtier then the rest of the water that surrounds the Aquarium at Pacific Grove, and that it is in all fairness just the exact same water.

So now seven years later the state water board has finally given the Aquarium an exemption that essentually just lets the Aquarium keep doing what it has always done: pump seawater through it's tanks so people can come look at the fish there.

What a ridiculous waste of time and money.


Jim