Raves and Graves

Would you rather swim in a river of ammonium or MDMA?

By Eve Andrewson 15 Jan 2015comments Share

Are you a fish? If yes, it’s crazy that you’re reading this with those gross eyes and tiny, futile brains of yours, but we’ll just move along. We have Grist’s official “hot or not” vacation roundup for you, and our theme this week is “Where to get high, and where to die!”

Hot: Taiwan, where the rivers now run with MDMA thanks to some hellscape of an EDM festival in Kenting National Park. From CityLab:

During one week in April 2011, the researchers identified in southern rivers the presence of not just ecstasy but ketamine, codeine, pseudoephedrine, caffeine, and prescription drugs for high cholesterol and urinary tract infections, according to a new paper in Environmental Science & Technology.

If you’re going to rave just by breathing, don’t forget your lip balm and water — OH WAIT, you’re a fish! You always have water! Otherwise, you would die.

Not: Speaking of dying, here’s where not to go — ever: Pennsylvania, New York, Arkansas, and anywhere else in proximity to a fracking site. A new and first-of-its-kind study to be published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology has found two toxic chemicals — ammonium and iodide — in the wastewater from oil and gas treatment plants. As you can probably imagine, fishy reader, this development is not in your favor. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Ammonium, when dissolved in water, can convert to ammonia, which is toxic to aquatic life. Sampling at wastewater discharge sites found ammonium concentrations up to 100 milligrams per liter or more than 50 times higher than the federal water quality limit for protecting aquatic life.

This adds an important piece of information to the bewildering debate of whether fracking has health and/or environmental impacts — namely: Yes, goddammit, those chemicals actually do get into the water.

So, my dear finned friends, would you prefer to roll or would you prefer to roll over? The choice is all yours! (Just kidding, it’s not, because you can’t travel internationally, because, once again, you’re a fish. I’m so sorry.)

Source:
Taiwan’s Rivers Are Flowing with the Drug Ecstasy

, CityLab.

Study: High levels of pollutants from drilling waste found in Pa. rivers

, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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