The restorative capacity of nature

It just keeps getting worse. The Times:

BATON ROUGE, La., Sept. 6 - While the human and economic toll of Hurricane Katrina continued to mount, New Orleans was beginning to pump back into Lake Pontchartrain the floodwaters that had inundated the city.
But this is not the same water that flooded the city. What started flowing back into the lake on Monday and continued spilling into it Tuesday is laced with raw sewage, bacteria, heavy metals, pesticides and toxic chemicals, Louisianaa officials said on Tuesday.
Whether or not the accelerating pumping of this brew from city streets into coastal waters poses a threat to the ecosystems and fisheries in the brackish bay remains to be seen, the officials said. They added that they could do little more than keep testing and count on the restorative capacity of nature to break down or bury contaminants.

Gulf seafood ever again, anyone? Me neither.