"brown water bubble up out of a slightly elevated manhole on the side of a flooded Houston intersection" is a drainage issue. That's Houston's lack of building codes and unchecked expansion there, not "they're pumping the sewers backwards" or some shit. A brief perusal of Harris County's flooding history will illustrate a trend. I'm not saying "don't be upset about the EPA" I'm saying you are sucking more than usual at compartmentalizing.
There is nothing in this world that could make me click that link. Ideally, I would try to recreate what I imagine it to be like and compare. But I'm ok right now. Maybe tomorrow night? And sure, agree, but I think I tried starting to stake out the other end of "the ocean filters all of my local pollutants, naturally".