There ’s rake in the weewee in Texas . No , I ’m not being metaphoric or quoting a country song . I intend that Austin funeral homes have been pouring human rakehell from stiff down the drain along with toxic embalming fluids .
Several embalmer in the Austin region say that whatever blood , corporeal fluid , and embalming liquidness amount out of deceased human bodies simply get flushed down the sink , allot to reportingby the Austin - American Statesman . Austin Water official say they had no idea this was uncouth practice .
Amy Petri , the public entropy officeholder at Austin Water , say that funeral home were in violation of a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality ordinance because they did n’t have save license to underprice the fluid . The Texas CEQ said in an e-mail , though , that it was responsible for issue permits to effluent discussion works , not individual business .
Photo: Paul Ratje (Getty Images)
“ Austin Water has not receive any permit program from funeral plate for the discharge of medical waste , ” she wrote in an email .
However , she said that she does n’t call up the fluids are posing any wellness or environmental risks . She mention that Center for Disease Control guidelinesallow for the disposalof medical wastefulness through the healthful sewer system . She also said that the National Association of Clean Water Agenciesrecently recognizedAustin effluent treatment flora with peak performance awards , and summate that Austin does n’t recycle cover wastewater for any drinkable purposes — the water system and wastewater treatment summons are keep separate and to protect against inadvertent discharges of industrial wastefulness .
“ Austin Water is surefooted that our treatment procedure are handling these materials that may be recruit the sanitary sewer system , ” she said .
Texas Funeral Service Commission executive theater director Glenn Bower also said it ’s nothing to worry about .
“ It is quite common and it is not dangerous at all , ” he wrote in an email .
Bowser add that the disposal method is not exactly a closed book . Some 1,600 funeral homes statewide dispose of fluid remains in this way , and the practice is instruct in foundation throughout the state .
“ It is a dependable process that is taught in all of the accredited school ; many of them are on public community college campus , ” he said . “ If this was either illegal or unsafe , the public school would not allow such practice to be taught within their campus and schoolroom . ”
Still , it ’s passably gross to think about — and it ’s hardly the only gnarly hooey end up in waterways . When it come in tochicken processing plants’orbeef slaughterhouses’wastewater , blood isamongthe worst forms of pollution . In 2012 , after a Dallas meat-packing business plant was caught dumping enough pig pedigree into a river toturn it red , local , DoS , and Union assurance teamed up to investigate . Formaldehyde is also a toxic sum , and in water , canirritate the skinin mellow enough doses .
allot to Bowser , funeral homes ’ drainage is nothing like that . He said though the Statesman ’s article may call forth an image of all gallons of blood from a human body getting poured into the sink , along with stark methanal , in reality the fluids drained by funeral home are very water down .
“ There is water supply endlessly running on the mesa to dilute everything that come out of the venous organisation , ” he said .
Green sepulture have become more and more popular because they have a lighter environmental footprint . OregonandWashingtonhave both passed laws allowing human composting and other lower - shock forms of burying that do n’t require embalming chemicals . Green necropolis have also becomeincreasingly commonacross the country , though cremation is still the go - to way to go out in the U.S. ( It comes with its own source of issues tied toair pollutionand carbon emissions . )
Update , 9/15/21 , 1:35 p.m. : This mail service was update with Amy Petri ’s current title of respect and comment from the Texas DEQ .
BowserPollutionWater pollution
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