Forum:There's something in the water...

Does anyone else think it strange that the Potomac and indeed all water in the wasteland is dirty? The radiation should prevent any micro-organisms from growing and without the pollution of industral waste the water should be crystal clear. I just wanted to get some other opinions on the matter.

So any other ideas? Sheepbiter 09:55, January 15, 2010 (UTC)


 * I'm sure there are extremophyle organisms that would thrive in those waters. Some of the ancient RNA scribed (non-DNA) eucaryotes(sp) would tolerate the radiation. Potato bugs survive in radiation of 10,000 rads (see Myth Busters episode guide) so something in that water would live. And if it's algae or a bacteria that dominates it would change the water some odd color, like the red algae plumes from nitric fertilizer run-off. Alatari 11:00, January 15, 2010 (UTC)

Or the bacteria and other organisms adapted to the radiation like much of the other animals in fallout. TheoQ99 07:26, January 16, 2010 (UTC)

Well. Makes sense i suppose. thanks for clearing that up. Sheepbiter 09:24, January 19, 2010 (UTC)

Well, radiation in fallout isn't like our radiation. It makes things bigger and stronger, not just kills them. So, really, the potomac is full of stuff like bigger, stronger cholera.

Otherwise, it's just dirty because of all the crashed ships and aircraft in it, and the decaying organic matter. The radiation is just from the nuclear fallout; the water isn't radioactive, just the dirt suspended in it.

Also, pollution would not have stopped. It would have gotten worse due to the lack of any cleanup or containment, and there are multiple dumps of radiactive waste just sitting on the ground with pools of water nearby. Skorpychan 00:10, January 25, 2010 (UTC)
 * Uh, no. Pollution would have stopped, because human industry would have stopped. Sure, there might be still residual pollution from places like waste dumps or similiar spots, but most of it would disappear overnight - with no running factories, cars, households etc. there'd ~be no more pollution generated. Cleanup and containment is needed only because we are consistently adding to the pollution pool. http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/fallout/images/thumb/4/4a/Naglowaa_se.gif/11px-Naglowaa_se.gif Tagaziel (call!) 07:07, January 25, 2010 (UTC)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

My point exactly Tagaziel Sheepbiter 12:42, January 26, 2010 (UTC)