More from John Ryan
Hooligans on the run!
(00:02:17)
From: John Ryan
The annual hooligan run in Berners Bay, northwest of Juneau, is just about done. Researchers say several million of the small, oily fish have returned to spawn in rivers ...
Animal eavesdroppers
(00:01:59)
From: John Ryan
Researchers have been eavesdropping on the conversations of chickadees in their winter flocks. The little black-capped birds are some of the most sophisticated communicators ...
Alaska's Trumpets of Doom
(00:04:24)
From: John Ryan
The science behind the songs of Alaska's humpback whales
Alaskan eagles rip it up (audio postcard)
(00:03:00)
From: John Ryan
Bald eagles, humans throng to a wild Alaskan river
Bridges over troubled waters (4:50 edit)
(00:04:50)
From: John Ryan
Winner, 2007 PRNDI award for Best News Series
Ripple Rock meets its doom (short version)
(00:04:35)
From: John Ryan
The greatest hazard to navigation on Canada's west coast, then and now.
Flying squirrels + treadmills = Science!
(00:02:08)
From: John Ryan
Alaskan squirrels can fly, but can they run?
Crossing Admiralty Inlet
(00:06:07)
From: John Ryan
The rough seas -- real and virtual -- of Puget Sound
Swirls of Deception
(00:05:52)
From: John Ryan
At Deception Pass, a rising tide endangers all boats.
Related Pieces
Piece Description
Near the U.S.-Canada border, the city of Victoria, British Columbia, pipes its untreated sewage to the bottom of the sea. Swayed by a very strange, seven-foot-tall, falsetto-singing activist, the British Columbia government ordered its capital city to use something besides ocean currents to treat its waste. For part 1 of an award-winning series on the currents of Puget Sound, producer John Ryan went to Victoria to see if dilution is the solution to pollution.
Broadcast History
Oct. 16, 2006 and Jan. 29, 2007, KUOW-Seattle
Transcript
ON VICTORIA'S INNER HARBOUR, HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGES TAKE TOURISTS PAST THE THE PARLIAMENT BUILDING AND THE EMPRESS HOTEL, WHERE HIGH TEA IS SERVED IN THE BRITISH TRADITION. BUT ABOUT A MILE AWAY IS THE UNDERBELLY, OR PERHAPS THE LARGE INTESTINE, OF THIS PROPER PROVINCIAL CAPITAL.
JIM MCFARLAND MANAGES THE CLOVER POINT WASTEWATER PUMPING STATION. IT'S MOSTLY HIDDEN UNDERGROUND IN A CITY PARK, ON A SMALL PENINSULA THAT JUTS SOUTH TOWARD PORT ANGELES.
MCFARLAND: "This is the main pump room. We have four sewage pumps... "
THE PUMP HOUSE IS FILLED WITH ORANGE AND YELLOW PIPES BIG ENOUGH FOR AN ADULT TO CRAWL THROUGH.
MCFARLAND: "We prescreen the sewage thru six-millimeter screens, or a quarter inch, to take out the large, nonorganic material. After the wastewater is screened, it's pumped through these pumps out to sea."
IN A NUTSHELL, VICTORIA IS THE GENTEEL TOURIST TOWN THAT PO...
Read the full transcript
Timing and Cues
Near the U.S.-Canada border, the city of Victoria, British Columbia, pipes its untreated sewage to the bottom of the sea. Swayed by a very strange, seven-foot-tall, falsetto-singing activist, the British Columbia government ordered its capital city to use something besides ocean currents to treat its waste. For part 1 of an award-winning series on the currents of Puget Sound, producer John Ryan went to Victoria to see if dilution is the solution to pollution.
Related Website
John Biewen
Posted on May 06, 2007 at 06:54 AM | Permalink
Review of Victoria Secretes
"In a nutshell, Victoria is the genteel tourist town that poops in the ocean."
I'm not sure which is the more satisfying aspect of this report -- the appearance by Mr. Floaty, the seven-foot turd with the sailor's cap and the Mr. Bill singing voice, or the discovery that, for once, someone has found a batch of Canadians who appear to be more environmentally careless than Americans. This is a thorough, well-reported and unusually entertaining feature about a policy dispute over municipal sewage. Reporter John Ryan has good (fecal) material to work with and he makes the most of it. There are momentary lapses into scientific journalese: "...source control is not a long term solution for ocean-bound toxic waste...." But for the most part, Ryan's lively tape and dryly witty writing get the job done. The closing "endangered feces" line is a genuine groaner, but truly, who among us could have resisted?