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The Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption has faced criticism for its water sprinkler system that drenches the homeless that seek shelter in its doors.

The Archdiocese of San Francisco has removed a controversial water sprinkler system installed at its home church.

The water sprinkler system refers to the system in theCathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption that sprays water from the ceiling 30 feet down into the four side doors of the church. The sprinkler attracted outrage on social media after KCBSran a report on Wednesday with a video showing the sprinkler system drenching the homeless that take shelter in the cathedral.

According to KCBS, the system sprays water on the church's doors for 75 seconds, every 30 to 60 minutes.

KBCS claimed a cathedral employee had confirmed that church management had installed the sprinkler system as a deterrent against homeless people who seek shelter in the cathedral.

After KBCS ran the report, the water sprinker system attracted criticism from residents and human rights groups.

"It's very shocking, and very inhumane...Certainly not formed on the basis of Catholic teachings,"Coalition on Homeless Executive DirectorJennifer Friedenbach said of the sprinkler system.

The report also prompted the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection to issue a notice of violation against the Cathedral and gave them a 15-day deadline to have the water sprinkler system removed.

Bishop William Justice, a rector in the Cathedral, issued a statementon Wednesday explaining the purpose of the sprinkler system. In the release, Bishop Justice said that the system serves"as a safety, security and cleanliness measure to avoid the situation where needles, feces and other dangerous items were regularly being left in these hidden doorways."

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San Francisco Archdiocese removes controversial water sprinkler system

The Archdiocese of San Francisco is removing a sprinkler system from St. Marys Cathedral that was used to try to deter homeless people from sleeping in the churchs doorways.Catholic officials issued an apology Wednesday for the sprinkler system, which was installed about two years ago after the archdiocese said it learned that such a system was being used in the Financial District to keep areas safe and clean. Homeless advocates, however, were aghast to learn of the sprinkler system at the church.Barry Stenger, executive director of the St. Anthony Foundation, which is not directly affiliated with the archdiocese, said he was surprised such a tactic would be used because Catholic churches have long been known to support homeless people. It seems really inconsistent with how Catholics in this city have treated homeless and people who are poor or are struggling, Stenger said. The archdiocese conceded that the method was ill-conceived.For this we are very sorry, said a statement from the archdiocese.Church officials said the sprinklers were meant to keep the area safe. Needles, feces and other dangerous items were regularly left in the doorways of the church, endangering students and elderly residents as they attended school and mass each day, the archdiocese said.When the system was installed, after other ideas were tried and failed, the people who were regularly sleeping in those doorways were informed in advance that the sprinklers were being installed, the statement said. The idea was not to remove those persons, but to encourage them to relocate to other areas of the Cathedral, which are protected and safer.The archdiocese emphasized that the Catholic community, particularly St. Marys Cathedral, has been a strong supporter of homeless San Franciscans by providing food, housing and shelter programs, among other efforts.The sprinkler system also might have violated San Francisco water-use laws, the archdiocese acknowledged. Removal of the system was expected to be complete Wednesday.

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SF Archdiocese apologizes for using sprinklers to deter homeless

Updated: Thursday, March 19 2015, 12:17 PM EDT

(AP)- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco on Wednesday dismantled a sprinkler system it had installed at the city's cathedral during one of the worst droughts in California history to soak the alcoves and prevent homeless people from sleeping there.

The archdiocese took down the sprinklers after a barrage of criticism because the system installed at St. Mary's Cathedral was drenching homeless people at night.

KCBS Radio first reported undeterred homeless people were using umbrellas and waterproof gear, but they were still getting soaked as they slept in the doorways. The sprinklers ran for about 75 seconds, about every half hour, starting before sunset in all four doorways, soaking homeless people and their belongings, a KCBS reporter who saw the sprinklers at work reported.

The archdiocese, which supports and helps the homeless, apologized and said its intentions were misunderstood. It said the purpose was redirect homeless people to safer areas on the cathedral grounds.

"We are sorry that our intentions have been misunderstood and recognize that the method used was ill-conceived. It actually has had the opposite effect from what it was intended to do, and for this we are very sorry," said Auxiliary Bishop William Justice, rector of the cathedral.

The system had been dismantled as of Wednesday afternoon, said Larry Kamer, a spokesman for the archdiocese. No homeless people were using the cathedral's alcoves until recently, he said.

The sprinkler system was installed two years ago, after the archdiocese learned that kind of system was being commonly used in the Financial District as a safety and cleanliness measure. Feces, needles and other dangerous items were regularly found in the doorways, Justice said.

"The problem was particularly dangerous because students and elderly people regularly pass these locations on their way to school and Mass every day," Justice said.

Homeless advocates welcomed the archdiocese's decision to remove the sprinklers, but they said they weren't surprised water was being used to get homeless people to move away from the area.

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Cathedral drenched homeless

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North Dakota state data show 107 active rigs as of Thursday, down 45 percent year-on-year and 3.6 percent less than last week. The rig count of 111 last week was the lowest since April 2010.

Bentek Energy, a forecasting division of energy reporting agency Platts, found crude oil production in and around the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota averaged 1.2 million barrels per day. That is around 276,000 bpd higher than February 2014, despite the drop off.

"Producers are countering the decline in rig count with a drive for efficiency gains in drilling and completion techniques and an increased focus on their more productive acreage," Catherine Bernardo, Bentek's manager of energy analysis, said in a statement.

Data from the North Dakota Industrial Commission found the 1.19 million bpd produced in January, the last full month for which data are available from the agency, was 2.5 percent less than the all-time high reported in December.

Data in a drilling productivity report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, meanwhile, finds net production from key shale basins in the United States may slow down in April. Of the seven shale basins reviewed, including Bakken, only the Permian shale in western Texas shows a projected gain.

Bentek, however, finds production from the Eagle Ford shale basin in Texas increased 3.1 percent year-on-year to average 1.6 million bpd. Yet, when combined with the Niobrara shale in Colorado, EIA data show expected production from Bakken and Eagle Ford will drop off by 24,000 bpd by April, which would be the first decline since EIA drilling record-keeping began in 2013.

EIA attributed the drop off in rig deployments to the low price of oil and subsequent spending cuts.

"When producers make the decision to lay down some drilling rigs, they generally start by idling the older, least-efficient ones first," it said in a Wednesday brief. "The effect on production depends on the productivity of the remaining rigs."

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In urban and suburban areas where people are packed closer together and where there is a lot more wastewater to treat, the community will construct a sewer system that collects wastewater and takes it to a wastewater treatment facility. Why are manhole covers round? Because it avoids accidents. Since manhole covers are round, it is impossible for a cover to fall down the manhole. If they were square or rectangular, they could. In the ideal case, a sewer system is completely gravity-powered, like a septic system. Pipes from each house or building flow to a sewer main that runs, for example, down the middle of the street. The sewer main might be 3 to 5 feet (1 to 1.5 m) in diameter. Periodically, a vertical pipe will run up from the main to the surface, where it is covered by a manhole cover. Manholes allow access to the main for maintenance purposes.

The sewer mains flow into progressively larger pipes until they reach the wastewater treatment plant. In order to help gravity do its job, the wastewater treatment plant is usually located in a low-lying area, and sewer mains will often follow creekbeds and streambeds (which flow naturally downhill) to the plant.

Normally, the lay of the land will not completely cooperate, and gravity cannot do all the work. In these cases, the sewer system will include a grinder-pump or a lift station to move the wastewater up over a hill.

Once the water reaches the wastewater treatment plant, it goes through one, two or three stages of treatment (depending on the sophistication of the plant). Here's what each stage does:

Primary treatment is very simple -- it involves a screen followed by a set of pools or ponds that let the water sit so that the solids can settle out.

Primary treatment might remove half of the solids, organic materials and bacteria from the water. If the plant does no more than primary treatment, then the water is chlorinated to kill the remaining bacteria and discharged.

The wastewater then flows to settling tanks where the bacteria settle out. Secondary treatment might remove 90 percent of all solids and organic materials from the wastewater.

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Love affair with wipes has grown recently - from kitchen to keyboard wipes They save dampening traditional cloths or removing make-up with a flannel Once used they are often tossed down loo withdisastrousconsequences Report revealed they are fastest growing cause of pollution on beaches Marine Conservation Society volunteers pick up at rate of 35 wipes per km

By John Naish for the Daily Mail

Published: 19:56 EST, 19 March 2015 | Updated: 19:56 EST, 19 March 2015

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Years into the future, if historians look back at our convenience-obsessed era and pick one single product to sum up all of its follies, they will surely choose the disposable wet wipe.

These moistened towelettes promise so much. They save us the apparent drudgery of having to dampen traditional cloths (that need washing when weve finished with them) or having to remove make-up with face wash and a flannel. For parents, they also offer an easy solution to the mess babies make of themselves.

But it now seems that our lazy ways have come at great environmental cost. Yesterday, a report by the Marine Conservation Society revealed that wet wipes have become the fastest growing cause of pollution on our beaches. Its volunteers are picking them up from our coastline at a rate of 35 filthy wipes per kilometre.

Wet wipes have grown in popularity - from kitchen and toilet wipes to moistened towelettes for keyboards

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How wet wipes are destroying the planet: From clogging up our sewers to creating floods of noxious waste and even ...

Sewage Enforcement Officer Chris Wood offers cautionary tale, and the promise of new technology

Published Mar 19, 2015 at 3:37 pm (Updated Mar 19, 2015)

By Anya Tikka DINGMAN TOWNSHIP Anything that happens upstream affects a whole lot of wildlife downstream.

Chris Wood, Dingman Townships Sewage/Zoning Enforcement Officer, reported on his attendance at the Pennsylvania Association of Sewage Enforcement Officers Conference at a recent township meeting.

Shellfish, including oyster beds, and rockfish have already disappeared in Chesapeake Bay, he said, offering a cautionary tale for Pike County's streams, which are designated by the state to be High Quality or Exceptional Value.

Chesapeake Bay is a mess, Wood said. There are a lot things controlling industrial and chemical waste. Of course, once you kill one species, you mess up the whole ecology. They are trying to bring back the bay.

He said its going to take many years to do, but Maryland has put together a series of laws of how to develop properties to achieve this. Nitrates are the most abundant runoff, mainly from farming. Although Pennsylvania is working with nitrates a little differently, its important to know about new developments, he added.

As far as Dingman Township and Pike County go, things are looking good.

We test all of our streams on a regular basis," he said. "Nitrates are extremely low in Dingman Township."

He said he believes its the same in most other townships around the area, based on what he sees on his rounds.

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