Ohio Awarding Water, Sewer Stimulus Funds

The Ohio Department of Development is taking requests for a slice of nearly $12 million in federal stimulus assistance aimed at funding water and sanitary sewer projects.

The department this week began accepting applications for $11.6 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Community Development Block Grant Program funds. That program is a $1 billion national initiative that’s part of $13.6 billion earmarked for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The state said it’s looking to award to local governments up to $500,000 for public infrastructure improvements and $100,000 for on-site improvements. Projects must be advanced enough to start construction within four months and serve primarily residential needs. The money is to be distributed following the approval of a federal amendment to the program that will be submitted this month.

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Source: bizjournals/dayton

City Officials Hid News of Water Contamination from Residents

Taken from an original article by Michael Hawthorne, Chicago Tribune

When public water supplies are fouled by toxic pollutants, Illinois law requires that municipal officials, not residents, be notified. But village officials in Downers Grove and Crestwood already knew their municipal well was contaminated — state officials had told them so in 1986 — and continued to use it anyway.

In response to the Tribune’s investigation, Governor Quinn and others vowed last week to ensure that state and local officials follow through on the intent of the law. They also are moving to make it a felony to mislead the public about the source of its water.

“You would expect them to tell their constituents what’s in the water they’re drinking,” said Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago), who sponsored the right-to-know measure. “If we need to amend the law to make it clear people should be notified, that’s what we’ll do.”

After the law took effect, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency posted on its Web site examples of state officials issuing notifications or requiring polluters to do so. Under the heading “right-to-know legislation better informs Illinois citizens,” the site notes that early notification can help people “make important decisions that may impact their families’ health.”

One case the EPA highlighted involved radioactive tritium that had seeped into groundwater near the Braidwood nuclear power plant in Will County. The Tribune first reported in January 2006 that Exelon Nuclear had bought out a homeowner and offered to compensate others for any loss in home value because of the contamination.

On at least a half-dozen occasions after that, Exelon and state officials sent notices to people living near the plant updating them on plans to clean up the area. “We moved fairly quickly on that one,” said Kurt Neibergall, manager of the EPA’s Office of Community Relations. “In many of these cases, we maybe don’t have all of the answers, but we can get as much information as possible out there.”

Answers were difficult to find for Ann Muniz and her neighbors in unincorporated Downers Grove. After they were told in 2001 that their wells were contaminated with trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene, two industrial solvents linked to cancer, they were advised by state health officials to avoid drinking tap water and to limit bathing in it.

If they needed to take a shower, Muniz said, they were told to open the windows because the chemicals can easily become airborne when aerated.

The neighborhood later was hooked up to treated Lake Michigan water and the wells were capped. But as the saga dragged on, it became clear that state and local officials had known about the contamination in the late 1980s and didn’t inform people living nearby.

“They always seemed to be looking for loopholes or excuses for not telling us what’s going on,” Muniz said.

When the right-to-know legislation was signed into law in 2005, state officials vowed that what happened to Muniz and her neighbors wouldn’t happen again.

In Crestwood, village officials told state regulators in 1986 that they would use only treated Lake Michigan water from neighboring Alsip and the contaminated well would be turned on only in an emergency. But records show that Crestwood relied on well water for up to 20 percent of the village’s water supply for some months.

The well finally was shut off after the EPA tested the water again in 2007 and found it still was contaminated with chemicals related to perchloroethylene. But before the Tribune report, the only public hint of contaminated water in the area was an Aug. 13 news release from the Illinois Department of Public Health warning that private wells in the area might be polluted.

State officials now say they are taking steps to avoid a repeat of what happened in Crestwood.

“We think what these guys did is outrageous,” said Doug Scott, director of the state EPA. “It can’t be allowed to ever happen again.”

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Source:  The Chicago Tribune

What does the Great Lakes Compact mean for water conservation?

Seven years in the making, the Great Lakes Compact went into effect last December after successfully passing through the legislatures of the eight Great Lakes states and Congress. This historic, multistate agreement outlines a regional approach for sustainably managing the waters of the Great Lakes.

A central component of the compact is its ban-with limited exceptions-on diversions of Great Lakes water to points outside the Great Lakes basin, an area defined by the lakes and land that drains into them. This piece of the compact has received considerable attention, particularly in Wisconsin, where the city of Waukesha is on track to become the region’s first out-of-basin community to apply for an exception to the diversion ban.

Perhaps equally significant but less discussed is a compact component that requires the Great Lakes states to implement water conservation programs in areas within the basin. In Wisconsin, Governor Jim Doyle wants to go even further: he has called for a conservation program for the entire state.

“Many communities that rely on groundwater are already reaching the limits of their water supply, and finding additional water sources will be expensive,” said Jeff Ripp, water conservation coordinator at the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC). “Conservation is the cheapest source of new water.”

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Source: Bay View Compass

Make water conservation a goal for all

Getting the Great Lakes Compact through Congress represents a huge achievement for the eight states that, along with two Canadian provinces, share this stunning basin formed by five massive bodies of freshwater. The pact, designed to fend off wholesale export of water, greatly improves the defense of the lakes.

The compact should signal, as well, greater communication and ongoing efforts among the states to monitor and conserve their assets. Because every state legislature had to approve the compact before its passage last month in the U.S. Senate and Tuesday in the U.S. House, lawmakers in all the states should be invested in making sure that water is not only preserved but restored and maintained to the highest possible quality.

That surely is the goal of the many people who led the effort, and deserve thanks, starting with the Great Lakes Council of Governors. The state executives were helped by the coordinated effort of congressional delegations from Michigan and the other Great Lakes states, and supported by numerous groups and coalitions that love and depend on the lakes.

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Source: FREEP

For more information about water conservation, visit Nuprana.com’s LEARN section

Officials concerned about future water supply

JOLIET, IL– Potentially serious water shortages are possible in northeastern Illinois’ future, depending on whether the region plans effectively, a new report says.

Under one scenario, demand for water in an 11-county area including Chicago could rise 64 percent by 2050, according to the report, commissioned by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. “To ensure an adequate supply for residential, commercial and recreational needs, we must start now to plan better — and conserve more,” said Randy Blankenhorn, director of the agency.

The report also would seem to give added importance to local water studies, such as the one being conducted in Lockport. In July, the regional planning agency released the report, which describes three possible scenarios for water demand in the 11 counties in the year 2050.

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Source: The Herald News

For more information on water conservation, visit www.nuprana.com

Senate passes bill to protect Great Lakes

CHICAGO — Efforts to protect the Great Lakes from those who may covet their vast quantities of water for an increasingly thirsty world took a major step forward Friday as the Senate passed legislation endorsing the Great Lakes Basin Compact.

The broad multi-state agreement would ban most diversion of Great Lakes water to any place outside the basin and would mandate conservation efforts inside it. Despite what some criticized as significant loopholes in the measure, House leaders said the bill would be a priority after the five-week congressional recess, and President Bush has said he would sign it.

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Source: The Chicago Tribune

For more information on water conservation, visit www.nuprana.com