Quote Originally Posted by Flybye View Post
Although Idaho is completely rural, we do have people who live in the city and people who live in the country.
Environmentally, I would say that there are some differences, but not many. People do dump on their own rural land. There have been instances where canals and rivers have been used to dump chemicals.
Generally, the people who have not learned to play nice with others end up moving to the country. They are the people who lived in town and got in trouble for barking dogs, kids that party late into the night, and having four or five dead cars hanging around on their front lawn. The pressure from neighbors to take care of their mess chases them to the country.
There is usually enough acreage between neighbors that they can live life their own way in the country without bothering others.
There are other disadvantages too, like slower fire and ambulance services, longer delays getting snow plowed from drifted in roads, poorer schools, and a fifteen mile drive for services (groceries, dinner out, etc). Generally speaking, cable television is not a choice and neither is natural gas.
I loved the solidarity of living in the countryside but I would not consider moving back. The inconveniences were not worth it. The money in gas for traveling was not good for the environment or my pocketbook.
How in the world did the man in the article procure sewage?? Ick.
This is my argument exactly whenever DH brings up the idea. I LIKE being 1.5 miles miles from everything.

DH is an environmental consultant and I wanted to comment on a couple of other things.

Farmers and municipalities routinely use sewage sludge and water treatment byproducts for fertilizing and watering. It happens all over the country and if it's done properly, is very safe. It is a part of the sewage treatment process. I'm not sure about odors through.

Dumping.... yes it's really unfortunate that some people created their own dumps but this is illegal. If you know of illegal dumping you can report it and maybe it will get cleaned up. We've seen some horrible, horrible dump sites where everything imaginable and then some was dumped over a cliff or into a gully. Yuck.