The data is coming in... one impact report at a time on various issues i.e Noise, Air Pollution levels, Trash, Occupational Saftey, etc...
Our Favorite place will become totally regualted.. I give it 5 year window and the place will be as tame as a shopping mall ...
Rick32
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Report finds elevated levels of carbon monoxide in channel
Federal study shows 54 out of 77 city employees exceeded 'ceiling limit'
By Matthew Bunk
Preliminary results of a federal study released Wednesday indicate that spending generous amounts of time in the Bridgewater Channel when there is heavy boat traffic can lead to over-exposure to carbon monoxide.
The study report, dated June 6, involved city employees stationed in the channel during the Memorial Day holiday. Breath tests were administered to each of the employees at various times during the shifts.
Over three days of testing, 54 out of 77 employees exceeded the “ceiling limit” imposed by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
On Saturday, May 24, all 24 employees tested showed levels of over-exposure to the gas at some point during their shifts.
The following Monday, when many of the boats had cleared from the lake, only one of 14 employees exceeded the limit.
A total of 40 firefighters, paramedics and police officers were tested multiple times during the three days.
NIOSH released the report earlier than expected due to inquiries by the TodayÂ’s News-Herald, said City Public Information Officer Charlie Cassens.
The city also requested “quick feedback,” the report states. NIOSH recommended that the city take action to reduce boat exhaust in the channel area during high traffic days. “Reducing the number of boats with operating engines is likely to be the only way to achieve a reduction in carbon monoxide concentrations,” it states.
The study stemmed from concerns related to past poisonings among visitors to Lake Havasu.
“The Havasu Regional Medical Center had seen four to six patients in the emergency department over the past several years who had been poisoned by their exposure to carbon monoxide in the channel,” the report states.
Lake Havasu City Council on Tuesday earmarked $13,000 to begin a public awareness campaign regarding the dangers of inhaling carbon monoxide.
Breath samples also were taken from the public during Memorial Day weekend, and air-quality monitoring will continue for at least another month.
However, those results could take months to develop, he said. And the final NIOSH results also could be months away.
The preliminary report also states: “Visitors standing submerged to their shoulders or neck for long periods of time, placing their breathing zone very near the exhaust of the passing boats, and visitors sitting on the transom or swim platform of moving boats may be exposed to much higher carbon monoxide concentrations than employees.”NIOSH, which has jurisdiction over workplace health issues, also instructed the city to:
• Develop an employee exposure-monitoring program.
• Train employees to reduce their own contact with the gas during the workday.
• Rotate employee assignments to areas where carbon monoxide exposure does not occur.
You may contact the reporter at mbunk@havasunews.com.
A friend of mine was at Powell last year in his house boat. The people beached next to him (also in a house boat) were running thier generator. A little girl in that party was floating in a tube off the end of the boat, and she died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Not trying to say these people are right, but the comment about people being close to the water and breathing CO, should be taken seriously.
[ June 12, 2003, 09:49 AM: Message edited by: Sleek-Jet ]
Do you let you kids play behind your running car in the drive way ?... Hell No! ... its common knowledge for gods sake... That why people start their cars in there garages and ham tunes til eeither they die or run out of fugg'in gas.....
Now if that poor girl were inside the houseboat instead of hanging out by teh tail pipe... now thats a different story that needs to be taken seriously.....
Rick32
I'd say all in all this is a pretty serious problem. There's a few reasons this concerns me.
1. If I was an employee and required to be stationed at the channel I would be seriously concerned about my health. This could have some serious long term affects on a person if they are exposed to this on a regular basis.
2. Children in the channel. A LOT of people party with their kids in the channel. The carbon monoxide is a lot worse on the kids then it is on us adults. Do you feel okay with the fact that your kid is inhaling a lot of bad crap that could potentialy cause them injury or possibly death?
What would you rather do? Run some sort of exhaust system on your boat that would make it less polutant to the air and healthier for everyone to breathe? Or would you rather run open exhaust polutte the hell out of the air and every now and then hear about a kid dying or someone else dying due to the pollution that your boat emitted? The channel is fun and through transom exhausts are fun but is the fun worth the risk of losing yourself or a loved one?
Why not devise a silent choice type exhaust system that uses a catalytic converter? This way when driving in heavily populated areas you can run a less poluting exhaust system and when you hit open water you can open it up and and make as much noise and polution as you want too?
Makes sense to me.
I was just making the point that there is a danger. Yeah, the people were dumb asses for letting thier little girl float around the back of the boat.
As for catalitic conv. on boats, I think most of them would melt a fiberglass boat.
An easy way to solve this problem would be to build alcohol motors.
Maybe we should have to annualy smog our boats too. No offense Boozer but don't be a dipshit. The amount of pollution that a properly tuned engine emits is very minor. It would pass any smog test given. I keep my boat running as best as I know how and I would be willing to put it on any analyzer.
There has to be some limits on what government, city or federal, needs to regulate. I am all for if you see a boat or car emitting smoke as it runs you are off the lake or roads until it is fixed.
We need to be good to the planet but we also need to get our senses and heads screwed on straight. I was behind a bus yesterday and my kids and I could barely breathe from the exhaust. Yet everyone says take the bus and reduce pollution.
I say keep your engines tuned properly and we will be fine.
spectratoad:
Maybe we should have to annualy smog our boats too. No offense Boozer but don't be a dipshit. The amount of pollution that a properly tuned engine emits is very minor. It would pass any smog test given. I keep my boat running as best as I know how and I would be willing to put it on any analyzer.
There has to be some limits on what government, city or federal, needs to regulate. I am all for if you see a boat or car emitting smoke as it runs you are off the lake or roads until it is fixed.
We need to be good to the planet but we also need to get our senses and heads screwed on straight. I was behind a bus yesterday and my kids and I could barely breathe from the exhaust. Yet everyone says take the bus and reduce pollution.
I say keep your engines tuned properly and we will be fine.
Boozer:
spectratoad:
Maybe we should have to annualy smog our boats too. No offense Boozer but don't be a dipshit. The amount of pollution that a properly tuned engine emits is very minor. It would pass any smog test given. I keep my boat running as best as I know how and I would be willing to put it on any analyzer.
There has to be some limits on what government, city or federal, needs to regulate. I am all for if you see a boat or car emitting smoke as it runs you are off the lake or roads until it is fixed.
We need to be good to the planet but we also need to get our senses and heads screwed on straight. I was behind a bus yesterday and my kids and I could barely breathe from the exhaust. Yet everyone says take the bus and reduce pollution.
I say keep your engines tuned properly and we will be fine.
There's already a movement to get catalytic convertors required for boats. The industry states that it is too dangerous to have the high temperatures that the catalytic convertor runs at inside the boat itself.
Either way, we cannot ignore the fact that the CO levels in the channel on busy days MUST be pretty high (see the photos published on this board) with the "cloud" hanging over the water. Long term effects are serious.
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
With the building that is happening along the channel the problem is only going to get worse as the structure probably hold in the CO gases. CO is lighter than air so the more open an area is the less of a build-up there will be. Maybe one possible solution is a moratorium on building along the channel.
Other link:
Chronic CO Poisoning
A 1500 degree catalytic converter has no biz in the engine well of a boat. However, we do need to take reasonable percautions, and cont to look for ways to run cleaner. Even if it is only for the sake of keeping our sport's enemies off of our backs. Of course, reason is not their strong suit, so we must also be as politically strong as possible.
[ June 12, 2003, 10:40 AM: Message edited by: eliminatedsprinter ]
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