St. John's River FOAM (house, YMCA, homeless)

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by jsimms3

Jacksonville Journal: Swimming pool acid not found in river | jacksonville.com

New update. Foam does not contain an acid found in many pools, so pools aren't probably cause. Decaying algal blooms may be the cause, but it sounds like nobody knows for sure what the cause of the foam is.

I would think that the River wouldn't have that much pool stuff in it. Because - if your pool leaks - you're likely to get it fixed. Otherwise - you'll be spending a ton of money on water to keep it topped off. Does that make sense to you? Robyn

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by jsimms3

I agree with everything you said and I think the point of the article was that we in Jacksonville end up paying for every river cleanup and river project when the river extends all the way to Orlando and other people who use the river should cut back on pollutants and pay their fair share (like we all pay for the Everglades cleanups and rehabilitations).

Also, I agree about septic and if I lived on the river or had the money I would go to sewer, but I am never home and it is not my place to nag everyone about it and give myself an odd/bad reputation in my neighborhood, and I would feel a lot more comfortable nagging my parents about it if the economy were better and they were actually making money and also when they are not spending a fortune to support me or my sister.

I also agree with your last statement (though I personally have a high disregard for gated communities so I cannot agree to your comparison of a non-gated historic neighborhood to a gated one just because the non-gated one is in the public eye). By your logic, every person has a duty to maintain their home, and that I can agree with. To the best of my knowledge, most people on the river do maintain their homes and the homes are pleasurable to the eye both from the road and the riverfront. A manicured lawn and sterile landscaping a well maintained home they do not make, necessarily.

Look at my "riverfront scenes" album and you will see a plethora of creativity in landscaping, or even non-landscaping. Some of the homes have a more sterile and manicured appearance, but many do not and still look ok The coolest yards are those covered in gardens and not with a massive lawn. People that emulate the Cummer Gardens style deserve a lot of praise if they are doing the gardening themselves, and many are (my mother spends at least 4 hours in the garden a day, but she has the time for it as her "realtor" job has become quite slow in this economy, heh).

I looked at your album - and basically I saw a lot of non-native stuff. This is what most of our yard looks like (except it looks worse today due to lack of rain - even native stuff here needs more water than 2 day a week watering can give it):

Flickr Photo Download: Back Yard (http://www.flickr.com/photos/10505567@N07/919688579/sizes/l/in/set-72157605107797037/ - broken link)

I don't expect you to nag your folks now (or ever - my goal isn't to disrupt your relations with your family ). But things today on the River in some parts of JAX are pretty much the way they were when we were looking to build in 1995. If people didn't make improvements in the best of times - there's no hope they will do them in the worst of times.

I do agree that those of us in St. Johns - Duval - Clay - Putnam Counties - at the "end" of the River - shouldn't be forced to pay all the money to clean up problems that people in counties to the south cause (in whole or in part). Why should we as state and federal taxpayers pay for cleaning up the Everglades (which isn't in our backyard) - as well as paying full freight for the junk that people deposit in our backyards?

BTW - if Georgia Tech comes to the Gator Bowl this year - we'd be happy to meet you at the parade and buy you a drink (if you're old enough to have one ). Robyn

[FlyiMetro]

Originally Posted by Northside904

Why would anyone eat anything caught in the St.Johns River is beyond me. The river has long had pollution issues. The river is good for the fireworks show, taking a boat ride on but that's it.

Its great for boats

[fsquid]

heard the foam is back.

[BabyBoomers2]

From who and when?

Originally Posted by fsquid

heard the foam is back.

[BabyBoomers2]

NAS Jax Air Show will be Nov 5-6 with quite a number of boats on the river during that time.

Originally Posted by FlyiMetro

Its great for boats

[fsquid]

Originally Posted by LoveBoating

From who and when?

my wife yesterday. She was at Alpine Grove with the kids and said it was back and heavy.

[madcapmagishion]

Foam results when various organic compounds are present in the water that can form bubbles (like soap) and there is some action that mixes air into the water (like waves or a strong storm/wind) These chemicals can be either man made - soaps, detergents or industrial chemicals from cites, or natural lignins, starches and similar from forests or farms. St John's river foam is probably a combination of both man made and natural compounds. The worse thing about the foam for boaters is the scum line(think ring around the tub) it creates on boats that are left in the water, for extended periods of time

[BabyBoomers2]

Yes, if a boat is tied up to Jax Landing and the foam will gather where the boat fenders are next to the dock and can also gather around the drive area in back. It does take some scrubbing to get it off of the waterline area of the boat! Sometimes a person has to drive the boat straight thru it as well.......yuk!

Originally Posted by madcapmagishion

Foam results when various organic compounds are present in the water that can form bubbles (like soap) and there is some action that mixes air into the water (like waves or a strong storm/wind) These chemicals can be either man made - soaps, detergents or industrial chemicals from cites, or natural lignins, starches and similar from forests or farms. St John's river foam is probably a combination of both man made and natural compounds. The worse thing about the foam for boaters is the scum line(think ring around the tub) it creates on boats that are left in the water, for extended periods of time

[FlyiMetro]

yucky yucky foam!