Don’t Let Fireworks Spoil Your Water

By Eliza Barclay, National Geographic Green Guide

Fireworks, picnics, mosquitoes, and a light summer breeze are the winning, all-American combination that few would trade on the Fourth of July. But with only a few small adjustments to the celebratory preparations, patriotic tradition can go hand-in-hand with environmentalism.

Though fireworks are typically only a once-a-year tradition, scientists are beginning to suspect that the radiant displays may be dangerous to our health.

A 2007 study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that fireworks displays next to an Oklahoma lake left perchlorate contamination for up to 80 days after the Fourth of July. (Perchlorate is an oxidizing chemical that can affect the functioning of the thyroid gland.)

Richard Wilkin, a geochemist with the EPA who authored the Oklahoma study, says there are still many knowledge gaps about the effects on water resources of perchlorate contamination from fireworks.

“But we should think about whether water bodies near where fireworks are set off are used for drinking water,” Wilkin said.

Other health experts are looking at whether heavy metals used to color fireworks may linger in the environment and caution against exposure to smoke, particularly for asthma sufferers, in cities that are blanketed in grey fumes after the ritual celebration.

Traditional fireworks manufacturers are looking for alternatives to perchlorate, according to Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, but she says there still isn’t much pressure on the industry to go green.

One pyrotechnics company, DMD Systems, has developed fireworks using nitrocellulose, a low-smoke ingredient. (Consider advocating that your municipality invest in DMD’s products for your local community display.) And Disney Imagineering, which puts on fireworks displays every day of the year at its theme parks, now uses a compressed air launcher to shoot off fireworks, reducing smoke and noise.

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Source: The Green Guide

China: Poison in the Drinking Water

The thousand inhabitants of Leifeng couldn’t have lived in a more remote spot. The village, near the border with Siberia, is covered in a thick layer of snow during the winter. Not surprisingly, then, it is home to a small alcohol factory, which produces ‘baijiu’, the Chinese version of vodka. But the factory proved to be more of a curse than a blessing, as 14-year-old Zhang Guanghui explains:

“My mother worked in the factory for three months. She treated the bottles with acid, so the glass looked frosted. The work made her ill. Now she’s dead. We had to sell our house. My father now works a long way away and I live with my uncle.”

The acid that Guanghui’s mother used to etch to bottles was hydrofluoric acid. The exposure to it during her work, in combination with the polluted drinking water, proved fatal. Because as Guanghui’s neighbour explains, the factory was also dumping large quantities of the chemical in three disused wells in the factory grounds. And thus it entered the groundwater and the wells for drinking water used by the village’s farming families. Guanghui’s mother is the only person to die of the poisoning up to now, but hundreds of villagers are ill.

Brittle bones
Guanghui looks like a boy of ten. The growth of other children in Leifeng has also been retarded by their exposure to the pollutant. Fluoride seems innocent enough but high concentrations in drinking water can cause brittle bones and damage teeth as well as causing memory loss and eye, stomach and liver problems. Chinese research has also indicated that high concentrations of fluoride in children can lead to a reduction in IQ.

Justice
Zhang Ruwen (pictured below), Guanghui’s uncle, has been fighting for justice since 2002.

“My sister-in-law died, my nephew is handicapped and my brother left the village and he had psychological problems because of that poison.”

There are tears in his eyes as he tells of his sister-in-law’s deathbed request:

“Your brother can’t do it but you have such a strong sense of justice. After I die, you must get justice for me”.

Mr Zhang, working with a retired lawyer, has compiled a dossier detailing the cases of 25 villagers. The x-rays and medical reports were investigated twice by a university in Beijing. Armed with the dossiers, the two men went to Beijing in 2002 to present their case before the highest national complaints commission. The complaints commission ruled in favour of the villagers from Leifeng and local authorities were forced to agree to solve the case within 10 days.

Damages
Very little has happened since then. The director of the regional court has refused to comment on the case. In 2006, free piped water was installed for everybody living within 60 km radius of the factory. A few of the villagers have been awarded damages and even collected the money but only on condition that they will undertake no further legal proceedings. The overwhelming majority of the villagers have received nothing.

The villagers are divided; some of them are too scared to initiate legal proceedings as the director of the factory has got good connections. They say its impossible to win the case as the factory bosses have bribed the authorities and a criminal prosecution as a lost cause despite the strict environmental and pollution laws.

Some of the villagers are still hoping for financial compensation high enough to pay for painkillers. But even their leader is beginning to lose hope. Justice for the residents of Leifeng will only come about as a result of the economic crisis. After all, the global financial crisis has already forced scores of polluting factories to close across China.

Source: Radio Netherlands Worldwide

The Water Project offers challenges for families through The Water Challenge

The Water Project, a faith-based non-profit organization whose mission includes connecting donors and implementers to make clean water a reality for needy communities, offers an innovative and fun way for families to get involved through a program called the Water Challenge.

This kid-friendly solution to helping the worldwide water problem includes simply changing drinking habits by switching to tap water, refillable containers or if bottled water is used, to recycle.

The site includes information on a variety of topics for parents and older students, too, including water scarcity and bottled water, and keeps donors up to date on local water projects.  Families and schools can report their challenge and have their progress posted and receive timely updates about current water projects in Africa and India.

What are the steps to a Water Challenge?

• Give it Up – Make water your only beverage…for 2 weeks.  Take the money you would have spent on soda, juice, sports drinks, bottled water etc., and put it aside to give clean water. Collect your savings in a cup wrapped with a “The Water Challenge” label.

• Wear your wristband – It’ll help you remember to choose water and to spread the word.
• Continue your sacrifice for 2 weeks – If you are heading toward the soda machine, head for the water fountain instead. If your family goes out to dinner and you usually order iced tea, ask for water. It’s free. You’ll be amazed at how the savings add up. Encourage your whole family to participate.
• Give it Away – After 2 weeks, calculate the amount of money saved by your sacrifice and give water through The Water Project, Inc. It will be used to drill and fix wells, build systems to catch rain-water and build small sand dams in Kenya, Zambia, Cameroon or India…you choose!

There is no cost to families to participate, although the activity can be used as a fundraiser, and the challenge is an overall great way to build dialog within families about water conservation and charity.

The bottom line is that charitable opportunities are available, even for the youngest participants.  In the tough economy, many organizations can still share their stories and provide knowledge-sharing for people interested in the issues.  The Water Project is one such group, hoping that folks will learn now, act as much as possible and donate when they can.

For more information about the Challenge, see: http://thewaterproject.org/thewaterchallenge.asp

Source: The Examiner

Infertility and Tainted Breastmilk: Side Effects of America’s Drinking Water

ALBUQUERQUE-  As a new mother, I’ve done everything I can to keep my son healthy and increase his chances of becoming a strong, successful individual.  I had a natural childbirth with no drugs.  He was exclusively breastfed.  At 9 months, he now only eats organic fruits, vegetables, grains and meat, and he continues to breastfeed.  I braved the mess of cloth diapers, and use only gel-free, fragrance-free, dye-free disposables as an alternative.  I’ve tried to educate myself about all the harmful contaminants he could be exposed to, and do my best to protect him from them.

Yet there is one source of contaminants that I haven’t been able to do much about:  Our drinking water.

Sure, we have a PuR filter to help filter the water from our tap and I read the water quality reports from my local water authority.  But the local water authority is only required to report on contaminants regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-and the EPA only regulates a small percentage of the known pollutants found in America’s drinking water.

I recently came across an article in the Washington Post that preceeded the EPA’s Oct 2008 decision not to regulate perchlorate, a dangerous chemical shown to affect the thyroid and thus impair many hormone-related functions such as fertility, growth, and brain development.

According to Robert Zoeller, a University of Massachusetts professor who specializes in thyroid hormone and brain development and was quoted in the article, “[the EPA has] distorted the science to such an extent that they can justify not regulating” perchlorate.  “Infants and children will continue to be damaged, and that damage is significant.”

Zoeller said scientific studies have shown that a small reduction in thyroid function in infants can translate into a loss of IQ and an increase in behavioral and perception problems. “It’s absolutely irreversible,” he said. “Even small changes in thyroid functions early on have impacts on functioning through high school and even into people’s 20s.”

A reference to those studies in the EPA’s proposal was deleted by White House Office of Management and Budget officials, reportedly due in part to pressure from the Pentagon.

The original EPA document also found that bottle-fed infants would be exposed to more than five times the level the National Academy of Sciences deemed safe — 700 nanograms per kilogram of body weight per day — if parents mix formula with drinking water containing perchlorate levels of 15 ppb.  Breast-fed infants whose mothers are exposed to perchlorate would ingest even higher levels of the chemical, as perchlorate becomes highly concentrated in breastmilk at levels exponentially greater than other means of excretion.

The more I researched perchlorate, the more outraged I became.  The city of Albuquerque, where we live, is one of many cities across the country with known detection of perchlorate in the city water.  We and millions of other people across the country are exposed to unacceptable levels of perchlorate, which affect our health in a myriad of ways and disproportionately harm infants, children, and women of reproductive age.

What is perchlorate?

According to the American Water Works Association, perchlorate is both a naturally occurring and man-made ion used to form a variety of salts. The primary use of perchlorate today is as an oxidizer in solid rocket fuel and other propellants and to a lesser extent, in fireworks, explosives, and air-bag inflators.  It is also used in some municipal waste treatment plants around the country.

Why is perchlorate harmful?

Perchlorate interferes with iodide uptake into the thyroid gland, and the thyroid is a central control point for a variety of hormonal responses.  In fetuses, infants, and young children, thyroid hormones are critical for normal growth and development.  In adults, the thyroid helps to regulate metabolism and fertility.  Iodide deficiency in women (such as that caused by perchlorate exposure) can decrease levels of fertility, increase miscarriage rates, and lead to more serious health risks such as goiter and thyroid cancer.  Women with iodide deficiency who are lucky enough to become pregnant have a high risk of birthing babies with developmental problems-including behavioral disorders, delayed development and decreased learning capability.

“[the EPA has] distorted the science to such an extent that they can justify not regulating” perchlorate.  “Infants and children will continue to be damaged, and that damage is significant.”

Robert Zoeller
University of Massachusetts

Nursing women can excrete perchlorate in breastmilk in disproportionately high quantities, resulting in infant consumption of perchlorate at levels that far exceed the recommended limit per body weight. Kirk et al. (2005) analyzed 36 breast milk samples from 18 States (CA, CT, FL, GA, HI, MD, ME, MI, MO, NC, NE, NJ, NM, NY, TX, VA, WA, WV) and found perchlorate concentrations in all samples ranging from 1.4 to 92.2 μg/L.  For more specifics on the health effects of perchlorate (per the EPA’s highly edited official document) click here.

Where is perchlorate found?

Perchlorate is found in groundwater, surface water, drinking water, and also in our food sources around the country.  To find out whether perchlorate has been detected in your community, click here.  This list is not exhaustive and it is possible that you may be exposed to perchlorate in your drinking water even if your city is not on the list.  Some independent experts estimate that as many as 40 million Americans are affected by perchlorates in their drinking water.

What level of perchlorate consumption is considered “safe”?

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) conducted a study and issued a report in 2004 that stated that daily ingestion of up to 0.0007 milligrams per kilogram of body weight will not result in an adverse effect on the health of even the most sensitive populations.  This translates to a Drinking Water Equivalent Level of 24.5 ppb-based on an average body weight of 70 kg or 154 pounds.  While this is the “official” recommended level, independent studies have demonstrated adverse health effects of perchlorate consumption at levels inferior to the 0.0007 mg/kg of body weight.

The amount of perchlorate ingested by an exclusively breastfed baby will significantly exceed this recommended reference dose.

How are we exposed to perchlorate?

Contaminated drinking water is the most likely way to ingest perchlorate, according to the EPA.  Perchlorate has been detected in ground and surface water in 26 states and one territory. While it has often been detected in water supplies in close proximity to sites where solid rocket fuel is manufactured or used, there are also many locations in the United States lacking a clearly defined source.  Drinking water contaminated with perchlorate has been found throughout the country, however the highest density of perchlorate detection was found to be in Southern California, west central Texas, along the east coast between New Jersey and Long Island and in Massachusetts. In these communities perchlorate levels have been found to exceed the recent EPA recommendations by as much as 100 to 1000 times.

Because so many of our food sources also contain water or are irrigated with water, perchlorate is also found in lower concentrations in a variety of foods.  Studies conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Nov. 2004) and the Environmental Working Group (Apr. 2003) detected perchlorate in samples of lettuce in California. Several other studies also detected perchlorate in milk samples taken from California and Texas.

Water infused with perchlorate is used to irrigate crops throughout California-our nation’s largest producer of fresh produce.  It is found in high concentrations in leafy green vegetables.  Buying “organic” provides no safety from perchlorates as the organic label certification processes only review the direct use of pesticides, not the quality of the water used for irrigation.  Perchlorate is also found in meat-in particular grazing animals-who can ingest perchlorate from their own feed irrigated with contaminated water.

What can we do?

There is no question that perchlorate in groundwater and surface water (the sources of our drinking water) should be monitored, controlled, and ultimately eliminated.  At the very least it should be regulated in our drinking water, and ideally it should be eliminated from all water sources as it inevitably makes its way up the food chain due to irrigation.

We can write directly to President Obama to urge him to stop allowing America’s mothers and babies to be poisoned-and require the EPA to regulate perchlorate in our water.  We can write to our city and state officials urging them to do the same.  California and Texas are already moving to regulate perchlorate contamination in drinking water, and other states may follow suit.

Finally, we can all do our part to conserve water.  The more water we use, the more we compromise our water quality.  Low aquifers mean high concentrations of all types of contaminants, including perchlorates.  Vanishing aquifers mean that cities and states must find new sources of drinking water-replacing high-quality underground sources with water from rivers or lakes.  America’s rivers and lakes are almost universally contaminated with all sorts of pollutants that accumulate as water runs over the ground and absorbs perchlorates, pesticides, chemicals and even nuclear waste-most of which are not regulated by the EPA and sent straight to our taps.

We can’t continue to pander to corporate interests at the expense of our nation’s health, or continue consuming water as if it were an endless resource.  Perchlorate is the most recent harmful contaminant we’re finding in our water but if we continue in this direction, tomorrow will certainly reveal others.

• For more tips on how to advocate for perchlorate regulation, visit Nuprana’s Advocate section.
• For affordable and easy-to-use products that can help you conserve water in your home our business, visit Nuprana’s Purchase section.

Additional sources of information about perchlorate:

American Water Works Association

U.S. EPA

Elizabeth Beachy is co-founder and co-owner of Nuprana.com, a socially-conscious family business dedicated to water conservation.

Minnesota Voters approve $5.5 billion for Land and Water Conservation

SAINT PAUL, Minn., Nov 05, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ — Yesterday Minnesota voters approved the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, the largest conservation ballot measure in history, according to The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national conservation organization. At more than $5.5 billion dollars for land and water conservation, the winning measure nearly doubles the previous largest conservation ballot measure, New Jersey’s Constitutional Amendment in 1998, which dedicated $2.94 billion in sales tax to the Garden State Preservation Trust.

The historic success of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment will increase investment in clean water, natural areas, cultural legacy, and parks and trails by about $290 million a year for 25 years. An estimated $220 million a year will protect and restore natural areas, parks, and lands vital for water quality.

“Minnesota voters are willing to pay to protect our waters and natural lands for our children and grandchildren,” said Susan Schmidt, director of The Trust for Public Land’s Minnesota Office. “They know that these lakes and natural lands play an important role in preserving our quality of life. With our natural lands diminishing, we could not afford to wait to protect the water quality of our rivers, lakes, and streams, or to conserve natural areas, parks, and habitat for fish and wildlife.”

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Source MarketWatch

More natural gas today, less and polluted water tomorrow.

After decades of declining US natural-gas production, an advanced drilling system so powerful it fractures rock with high-pressure fluid is opening up vast shale-gas deposits.

Instead of falling, US gas production is rising, with up to 118 years’ worth of “unconventional” natural gas reserves in 21 huge shale basins, an industry study in July reported. Such reserves could make the nation more energy self-sufficient and provide more of a cleaner “bridge fuel” to help meet carbon-reduction goals urged by environmentalists.

Shale gas reserves have a powerful economic lure. Companies, states, and landowners could all reap a windfall in the tens of billions. Some also predict lower heating costs for residential gas users as production increases.

Now, scores of natural gas companies are fanning out from Fort Worth, Texas, where hydraulic fracturing of shale has been done for at least five years, to lease shale lands in 19 states, including Pennsylvania and New York.

But some warn that by expanding “hydraulic fracturing” of shale, America strikes a Faustian bargain: It gains new energy reserves, but it consumes and quite possibly pollutes critical water resources.

“People need to understand that these are not your old-fashioned gas wells,” says Tracy Carluccio, special projects director for Delaware Riverkeeper, a watchdog group worried about a surge in new gas drilling from New York to Pennsylvania and from Ohio to West Virginia. “This technology produces tremendous amounts of polluted water and uses dangerous chemicals in every single well that’s developed.”

Traditional gas wells bore straight into porous stone, using a few thousand gallons of water during drilling. But dense shale has gas locked inside.

Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” and horizontal drilling unlock it.

Each hydraulically fractured horizontal well can require from 2 million to 7 million gallons of fresh water mixed with sand and thousands of gallons of industrial chemicals to make the water penetrate more easily.

This frac-water mixture is blasted at high pressure into shale deposits up to 10,000 feet deep, fracturing them. The sand lodges in the cracks, propping them open and providing a path for the gas to exit after external pressure is released.

Besides using vast amounts of groundwater, scientists and environmentalists worry that toxic frac water – 30 percent or more – remains underground and may years later pollute freshwater aquifers.

Millions of gallons of frac water come back to the surface. It could be treated, but in Texas it is most often reinjected into the ground.

Millions more gallons of “produced” water flow out later during gas production. This flow, too, is often tainted with radioactivity and poisons from the shale. Often stored in pits, that waste can leak or overflow while awaiting reinjection.

Simply put: “Each of these wells uses millions of gallons of fresh water, and all of it is going to be contaminated,” Ms. Carluccio says.

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Source: The Christian Science Monitor

For more information about water conservation, visit our LEARN section

US fish farms tap former coal mines for water

In the Appalachian mountains of the United States, growing numbers of fish farmers are raising trout, catfish, and even salmon throughout the valleys of the state of West Virginia. What they’d rather not tell you, however, is that the source of their water is deserted coal mines.

Worry not, seafood lovers. According to independent experts from within West Virginia and outside the state, the farmers’ claims of using ‘clean, clear water’ are true. The fish that are being raised in the mine waters are not only safe, but they may also be healthier than fish grown in conventional aquaculture operations.

‘The focus is less the mine water-we know it works, we know the fish are safe-and more of marketing,’ said Ken Semmens, a West Virginia University aquaculture researcher who is promoting the mine-water operations.

Many abandoned coal mines in Appalachia are polluted with toxic metals. But some have been spared, and the water sources that accumulate are considered clean enough to raise fish. Pipes carry the water directly to the aquaculture operations without any treatment.

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Source: The Environmental Expert

For more information about water conservation, visit our LEARN section

60 Countries Will Face Water Shortages by 2050

VIENNA, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) — International water experts attending the 6th World Water Congress said on Friday that more attention should be given to problems in the developing countries, including those with regard to water supplies and sanitation.

It is estimated that about 60 countries, most of them developing countries in the Middle East, North Africa, the sub-Sahara region as well as South and Central Asia, will face a shortage of water supply till 2050, according to the 6th World Water Congress.

The six-day congress, organized by the International Water Association (IWA), opened here on Sunday, with the attendance of about 3,000 experts and scholars from around the world.

According to data released at the gathering, more than 80 percent of infectious diseases in developing countries are caused by insufficient sanitation or clean drinking water.

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Source: China View

For more information on water conservation, visit our LEARN section

Wastewater-Controlling Wastage

Water that is polluted by humans, through residential, industrial or commercial activity, is called wastewater. These pollutants are often toxic substances and a hazard to the health of the people who consume or use it. It’s a hazard to the environment if left to sink into the ground. This gives rise to the need for treatment of wastewater, in order to remove the pollutants from water, and make it safe for consumption, and use. It must be treated even if merely let out in the environment, say to sink into the ground or to mix with sea water.

Why You Should Conserve Water?

Water conservation also indirectly helps in maintaining the water quality. Excessive water drawing (exceeding the water holding capacity of the soil) from ground sources allows ground water contamination from neighboring areas or sea. So, avoid unnecessary water drawing from ground sources. The volume of wastewater discharge can be reduced substantially through conservation of water.

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Source: All About Wastewater Treatment

For more information on water conservation, visit our LEARN section

Huge underground water plant takes shape under NYC

NEW YORK (AP) — It requires enough concrete to build a sidewalk from New York to Miami and enough pipe to reach the top of the Empire State Building 140 times over. Workers carved out enough dirt from the ground to fill more than 100,000 dump trucks.

The colossal effort is a water filtration plant being built 10 stories beneath a Bronx driving range, a one-of-a-kind project intended to become a nearly invisible part of the city’s infrastructure.

But the plant has been anything but hidden so far.

The plant’s completion date has been pushed back six years, and its price tag, which early estimates put at $660 million, is now $2.8 billion. Costs, delays, seven-figure fines and a brush with a high-profile Mafia case have sharpened criticism of the city’s handling of a project that three city watchdog agencies and a group of community leaders are monitoring.

“The bottom line is that to build this water plant, the taxpayers are getting soaked,” state Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz said. “It’s like government at its worst.”

Despite the problems, officials say they will not be deterred from building what they see as the latest far-reaching project in a city full of grand monuments to civic imagination. Officials say they are making good progress despite a late start, and the cost increases are an unavoidable reflection of an industrywide trend.

“The need to complete important projects like the (water) plant has not diminished,” Deputy Mayor for Operations Edward Skyler said. “We can’t sit back and let others worry about the future.”

The federal government has ordered the city to build what will be its first drinking water filtration facility, and the project is believed to be the first subterranean water plant in the nation. Its magnitude is hard to overlook: The pit at Van Cortlandt Park is so deep that large cranes merely peek above the rim.

By 2012, if the schedule holds, a 12-foot-wide tunnel will feed the plant up to 300 million gallons of water a day — about a quarter of the city’s supply. The water will run through a complex set of steps that filter out contaminants: a chemical that makes unwanted particles clump together, air bubbles that push them to the surface to be skimmed off, and a barrier of sand and anthracite coal that strains out still more contaminants. Finally, ultraviolet light will kill bacteria and viruses small enough to have squeezed through the various filters.

New York is one of the few big U.S. cities that doesn’t filter its drinking water, long a point of pride here. It does add chlorine to disinfect its water, fluoride to help prevent tooth decay and other chemicals that reduce acidity and prevent metals such as lead from leaching from pipes.

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Source: The Associated Press

For more information on water conservation, visit our LEARN section