Monthly Archive for April, 2010

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EPA proposes rainwater-trapping rules for D.C.

Published on 04/22/2010 in policy, rainwater harvesting and solutions and outreach. 2 Comments Tags: EPA, rainwater catchment, rainwater harvesting, storm water, water policy, water pollution prevention.

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced plans Wednesday to require “green roofs,” rain barrels and other measures that trap runoff at new and redeveloped buildings in the District, making the city a test case for an ambitious effort to stop pollution from flowing into rivers along with the rain.

“The EPA’s plan, contained in a proposed permit for the District’s storm-sewer system, would require developers to trap 90 percent of the water that falls on a plot during a storm.”

“In the EPA’s plan, “you’re using water on site as an asset, rather than a waste product,” said Jon Capacasa, director of the water protection division of the EPA’s mid-Atlantic regional office. He said the changes were part of a larger effort, begun with a presidential order last year, to improve the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. “The local water bodies need these levels of [storm water] control to be healthy,” he said.”

U.S. Urban Residents Cut Water Usage; Utilities are Forced to Raise Prices

Published on 04/21/2010 in policy and tap water. 0 Comments Tags: municipal water supply, price of water, tiered water rates, water conservation, water metering, water rate hikes.

Las Vegas, Nevada

“Rising conservation has contributed to revenue volatility,” said Rusty Cobern, budget and finance manager for the Austin Water Utility. “We would have expected a revenue windfall during the [recent] drought. Aggressive conservation pricing model can eliminate windfall opportunities.”

“Water agencies have a disincentive to conservation because if customers cut use, it cuts sales,” Cooley told Circle of Blue.

In essence, water utilities make money selling water. And since selling less water decreases revenue, utilities develop a perverse incentive that welcomes dry periods because people will use more water on their lawns and generate more income for the utility.”

Lynn Henning wins environmental award for CAFO monitoring [dairy manure spill into Lake Hudson]

Published on 04/20/2010 in contaminated water and solutions and outreach. 3 Comments Tags: CAFO, concentrated animal feeding operations, dairy farm pollution, dairy farming runoff, goldman environmental award, lake hudson, water pollution.

“Lynn Henning of Clayton is among six environmental activists from around the world receiving prizes today from the Goldman Environmental Foundation at a ceremony in San Francisco.

“Henning has had a running confrontation with a number of large dairy, or CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation), operators since a dairy manure spill into Lake Hudson caught her attention in 2002.

“Her goal, she said, is seeing stricter regulations enacted for concentrated animal feeding operations. The CAFO operations that have developed in recent years are very different from family farms that government agencies have been used to dealing with, she said.”

Dow cannot run from the legacy of Bhopal by sponsoring ‘Run For Water’ events

Published on 04/19/2010 in contaminated water, greenwashing and groundwater. 0 Comments Tags: Bhopal disaster, Dow Chemical, DOW Live Earth Water, earth day, Green News, Live Earth Water, Water.

chrismorrow

Dow LiveEarth Run For Water: Protesters Call Out Hypocrisy

Published on 04/19/2010 in contaminated water, greenwashing and groundwater. 0 Comments Tags: Bhopal disaster, Dow Chemical, DOW Live Earth Water, earth day, Green News, Live Earth Water, Water.

“As Earth Day draws near, we’re seeing tons of companies try to get in the “green” bandwagon, with special products, giveaways and ad campaigns. For some companies like Dow Chemical with dubious environmental records, a little Earth Day sponsorship won’t slip by unnoticed. Dow sponsored the Dow LiveEarth Run for Water, a particularly ironic move considering they now own the company that is responsible for the Bhopal toxic gas leak that 25 years ago which still hasn’t been properly cleaned up, and continue to manufacture toxic chemicals.”

Bottled and Sold: What’s really in our bottled water

Published on 04/18/2010 in contaminated water and tap water. 0 Comments Tags: bottled water, Peter Gleick, tap water, water quality.

See full size image

“Water Number: More than 100. After months of requests and two Freedom of Information Act requests to the US Food and Drug Administration (which regulates some bottled waters), I got a list of recalls of bottled waters in the U.S. Combined with other research, I ultimately compiled a list of more than 100 bottled water recalls, affecting millions of bottles of water.

“This list (which I will soon post online) includes a remarkable list of contaminants. In addition to the benzene found in Perrier, bottled water has been found to contain mold, sodium hydroxide, kerosene, styrene, algae, yeast, tetrahydrofuran, sand, fecal coliforms and other forms of bacteria, elevated chlorine, “filth,” glass particles, sanitizer, and in my very favorite example, crickets.”

Growing concern in the water: Alarmed by latest research, the Obama administration is conducting a broad review of toxic weed killer atrazine that could lead to tighter restrictions

Published on 04/17/2010 in groundwater, policy and tap water. 0 Comments Tags: atrazine, contaminated water, EPA, groundwater contamination, runoff, safe drinking water act, Syngenta, tap water.

Atrazine spraying

“Despite growing health concerns about atrazine, an agricultural weed killer sprayed on farm fields across the Midwest, most drinking water is tested for the chemical only four times a year — so rarely that worrisome spikes of the chemical often go undetected.

“Atrazine has been banned in Europe because it contaminates groundwater, but it remains widely used in the U.S., where the EPA endorsed its continued use as recently as 2003. Federal records show the review was heavily influenced by industry and relied on studies financed by Syngenta, a Swiss-based company that manufactures most of the atrazine sprayed in the U.S.”

Amazon Dam Project Pits Economic Benefit Against Protection of Indigenous Lands

Published on 04/17/2010 in dams, rivers and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: amazon river, belo monte dam, Brazil, hydroelectric power, xingu river.

amazonwatch.org

“RIO DE JANEIRO — The indigenous leaders had a plan. They would unite for a last, desperate stand against the mammoth dam threatening their lands in the Amazon, vowing to give their lives, if necessary, to prevent it from being built.

“This will be our last cry for help,” said the chief of the Arara tribe, José Carlos Arara, after a meeting of leaders from 13 tribes last month. “We are not here to kill. We are here to defend our rights.”

“For indigenous groups, the drying out of the Xingu would change life as they know it. So at their meeting last month, leaders from 13 tribes made an unusual decision: They decided to create a new tribe of about 2,500, and then station it directly on the construction site, occupying it for years, if need be.”

A New Shade of Green

Published on 04/16/2010 in climate change, contaminated water, policy, solutions and outreach and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: clean water act, climate change, earth day, EPA, runoff, water quality.

EARTH2

“We humans with our big cars and our big factories and our big cities were discharging terrible stuff into the air and water, and it had to be stopped or we would soon make our nest uninhabitable. The public was growing increasingly outraged. Every night on color television, we saw yellow sludge flowing into blue rivers; every day as we drove to work, we saw black smudges against the barely visible blue sky. We knew that our indiscriminate use of pesticides and toxic substances was threatening wildlife and public health.”

“But we didn’t do much about it. Until 1970, most regulation of industry was done by the states, which competed so strongly for plants and jobs that regulating companies to protect public health was beyond them.

“Environmentally, it was a race to the bottom.”

Harvesting Oregon’s bumper crop — rain

Published on 04/15/2010 in rainwater harvesting, solutions and outreach and water technology. 1 Comment Tags: diminishing groundwater supply, Portland, rainwater catchment, rainwater collection, rainwater harvesting, water conservation.

(news photo) “Why are we using chlorinated, treated water for watering our plants and yards and flushing our toilets, when we could get 70 percent of the water from rain captured from the roof?” wonders Klock, senior resource conservationist for the Clackamas County Soil and Water Conservation District.

“A typical 1,000-square-foot roof in the Portland area can capture 30,000 gallons of rainwater a year, he says.

“With more people moving into the Portland area, and agriculture a major industry in the Willamette Valley, the amount of available ground water is diminishing.”