密歇根新闻广播 洁净水值多少钱

 

Back in early summer I went to see Candice Miller¹, the former congresswoman who is now Macomb County Public Works Commissioner². She was mainly concerned with dealing³ with the now-famous sewer⁴ collapse⁵ that happened in Sterling⁶ Heights last Christmas.

Miller is far more conservative than I, but I've always admired her can-do, no-nonsense and pragmatic approach to government. She had thrown herself completely into her new job, and was discovering new things daily. Among them, she told me, was an apartment complex in Eastpointe that was illegally discharging all its sewage directly into Lake St. Clair.

"I'm sure they're not the only one," she told me. What most of us don't realize is that more than four million Michigan residents get their water from that lake or rivers that flow into or out of it, all of which have been fighting pollution problems for years.

Most of those who live in Macomb or St. Clair counties know that many of Lake St. Clair's beaches are often closed due to E. Coli contamination.

To its credit, the Detroit Free Press Sunday began publishing the results of a large investigation⁷ into pollution in Lake St. Clair, and it makes grim reading. There are a number of different causes for this, including massive amounts of poop produced by seagulls, and at this time of year especially, migrating Canada geese.

More than half of the lake is in Canada, which hasn't been guilt-free. A stretch of Lake Huron along Sarnia, right across from Port Huron, is the heart of Ontario's petrochemical industry, and those factories emit millions of pounds of toxic⁸ air pollutants⁹ which settle into the water.

But by far the worst culprit is the sewer systems in the Michigan communities around the lake. Most places still use what is called a combined sewer system, which means one pipe carries both rain water and raw sewage. That works well in comparatively dry weather, and the sewage gets shunted off to a treatment plant. But when you get a large rainfall, all too often it means that raw or only partly treated sewage goes cascading¹⁰ directly into the lake.

The same lake that supplies us with drinking water. This problem has been getting worse, in part because the population of Macomb County has exploded in recent decades.

Clearly, we have to do something about this, or risk being poisoned by our own you-know-what. Better treatment plants may be needed, and we need to convert as many buildings as possible from the old-fashioned combined sewage systems to one where you have one series of pipes for storm water and another to take sewage directly to a treatment center.

That will cost money, and yes, that may mean raising taxes. What boggles my mind is that knowing all this, knowing infrastructure¹¹ is wearing out statewide, we've got politicians pushing to cut the state income tax, or in the case of Macomb County State Senator Jack¹² Brandenburg, to eliminate it entirely¹³.

Two Macomb state representatives, Republican Pete Lucido and Democrat¹⁴ Kevin Hertel, are bringing in officials from the state Department of Environmental Quality and holding a forum¹⁵ about Lake

St. Clair water quality issues in Harrison Township starting at 6 tonight. If you have any interest in clean water, you might want to go.

Jack Lessenberry is Michigan Radio's Senior Political Analyst¹⁶. Views expressed in his essays are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management or the station licensee, The University of Michigan.

1 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

2 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

3 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

4 sewer   

n.排水沟，下水道

参考例句：

• They are tearing up the street to repair a sewer. 他们正挖开马路修下水道。
• The boy kicked a stone into the sewer. 那个男孩把一石子踢进了下水道。

5 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

6 sterling   

adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑)

参考例句：

• Could you tell me the current rate for sterling, please?能否请您告诉我现行英国货币的兑换率？
• Sterling has recently been strong,which will help to abate inflationary pressures.英国货币最近非常坚挺，这有助于减轻通胀压力。

7 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

8 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

9 pollutants   

污染物质（尤指工业废物）( pollutant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Pollutants are constantly being released into the atmosphere. 污染物质正在不断地被排放到大气中去。
• The 1987 Amendments limit 301(g) discharges to a few well-studied nonconventional pollutants. 1987年的修正案把第301条（g）的普通排放限制施加在一些认真研究过的几种非常规污染物上。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

10 cascading   

流注( cascade的现在分词 )； 大量落下； 大量垂悬； 梯流

参考例句：

• First of all, cascading menus are to be avoided at all costs. 首先，无论如何都要避免使用级联菜单。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Her sounds began cascading gently. 他的声音开始缓缓地低落下来。

11 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

12 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

13 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

14 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

15 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

16 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。