Elevated Levels of Arsenic Were Found in a Georgia Elementary School

 

Arsenic in water violations are becoming more common, partly because of the new arsenic rule that sets the limit at 10 parts per billion, down from a previous limit of 50.  Many water supplies that were once considered safe are now being required to reduce their arsenic levels.

Arsenic is an odorless, tasteless semi-metal element that can enter drinking water naturally through erosion of the earth or agricultural runoff. It can also occur as the result of industrial pollution.

The Colquitt County School System in Georgia is considering a filtration system to deal with elevated levels of arsenic found in well water at Hamilton Elementary School.

The system learned of the elevated levels of the naturally occurring poisonous substance in January, at which time the Georgia Department of Natural Resources recommended monitoring the well that serves the school through the end of the year.

The school’s well has been testing at 10 ppb or slightly more, so the school has decided to provide bottled water for its students until an arsenic removal system is installed.  The current expectation is that the system will cost the school some $50,000.

Water treatment for arsenic is by ion exchange, distillation, or reverse osmosis.

Testing for arsenic is crucial to making sure  water is clean and safe to drink.

Long term exposure to arsenic can cause stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, partial paralysis, numbness in hands and feet, blindness, and thickening and discoloration of the skin.

More About Arsenic in Moultrie School

More About Arsenic in Water

Gaza Is Running Out of Water

There is so much bad news coming out of Gaza that no one seems to notice that there is a a severe water crisis.

According to the authorities in Gaza, about 95 percent of the municipal water is undrinkable by international standards, and in any case, some 60 percent of homes don’t have access to potable water on a regular basis.

Private water tankers make the rounds of Gaza City neighborhoods, and residents buy what they need to drink, cook and clean. It is a health disaster.

 

The relentless economic blockade being carried out by Israel has virtually choked off infrastructure maintenance.  Electricity, for example, is in short supply.

Water and electricity go together. It takes electricity to produce and transport water, and it takes water to make electricity.  In Gaza, the water shortage creates an electrical shortage which creates a water shortage.

Because of electrical shortage, sewage systems, desalination plants and water pumping stations are barely working and there seems to be no hope for improvement.

What is worse is that Gaza’s limited water reserves are being depleted more rapidly than expected.  One water authority official says, “Gaza is facing a real environmental and health disaster in the coming years, meaning by 2016 — not even 2020 — our aquifer will be no more capable of giving us water, even saline. Then what? Gaza will not be livable.”

Since Gaza’s once healthy aquifer is being depleted faster than it can be replenished, sea water intrusion is causing saline and nitrate contamination that make the water unsafe to drink.

 300 Million Africans Still Lack Access to Safe Drinking Water

More than 400 million Africans now live in countries that lack sufficient water; 300 million lack safe drinking water; 230 million lack access to basic sanitation facilities.

Source of Mercury in Camp Lejeune’s Water Is Not Known

Military bases are notorious  for their water pollution issues because chemicals are available in great supply.

An unusual water pollution issue popped up this month when Camp Lejeune (NC) was forced to shut down one of its water treatment plants after about 8 pounds of mercury was found in a pipe in the facility.

Lejeune spokesman Nat Fahy said elemental mercury was found in the pipe at Hadnot Point Water Treatment Plant during maintenance.  Tests did not reveal mercury in the drinking water.

The plant will remain closed until repairs are completed.

Mr. Fahy says about 1 pint of mercury, weighing 8 pounds, was found. Water pressure meters containing elemental mercury were removed from the plant in the 1980s and replaced with digital meters.

Elemental mercury is found in items such as thermometers, dental fillings and  fluorescent bulbs.  Mercury in elevated amounts is relatively rare in drinking water supplies.

More about water pollution at Camp Lejeune

More about mercury in water

Pure Water GazetteFair Use Statement

In 2012 Arctic Ice Reached the Smallest Volume Ever Recorded

In 2007,  27 percent of the Arctic Ocean was covered with ice.  That was the lowest percentage ever recorded, but this year, 2012, only 24 percent of the Arctic’s surface was covered with ice.

One research scientist said, “The Arctic is the earth’s air-conditioner.”   When the ice recedes in the Arctic region, it isn’t just the humans and animals who live in the region that feel the effect.  The entire planet can feel the effect.

The sea ice is declining much faster than was predicted in the last big UN report on the state of the climate, published in 2007,  which suggested that the ice would not disappear before the middle of this century.

Now, some scientists think the Arctic Ocean could be largely free of summer ice as soon as 2020. But governments have not responded to the change with any greater urgency about limiting greenhouse emissions. To the contrary, their main response has been to plan for ways to exploit energy in the Arctic, including drilling for oil.

 A deep concern is that as the ice melts, the level of the oceans will rise to levels even greater than expected.  The sea is now rising at a rate of about a foot per century. As the rate of rise increases, so does the risk to coastal settlements.

A main concern of scientists is the apparent futility of convincing the public and governments of the gravity of the situation.

More information on Arctic ice melts from the New York Times.

 

 

 

 

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring Gave a Strong Push to the Environmental Awakening that Lead to the Establishment of the EPA

 

September of 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of one of the most influential books of modern times, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.

Rachel Carson’s 1962 book, which focused on what she saw as the widespread and detrimental use of pesticides, is credited as being the catalyst for the modern environmental movement and helping to lead to the creation of the US EPA in 1970.

“With the publication of Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” average citizens grasped, maybe for the first time, how their choices could harm the environment in which they live,” said EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin. ”Each of us is an engine of change in the choices we make, what we buy and how we live.”

The New Yorker started serializing Silent Spring in June 1962, and it was published in book form  by Houghton Mifflin later that year. When the book Silent Spring was published, Rachel Carson was already a well-known writer on natural history, but had not previously been a social critic. The book was widely read—especially after its selection by the Book-of-the-Month Club and the New York Times best-seller list.  The book inspired widespread public concerns with pesticides and environmental pollution .

Silent Spring started the dialog that resulted in  the ban of the pesticide DDT^[3] in 1972 in the United States. The book documented detrimental effects of pesticides on the environment, particularly on birds. Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading purposely misleading the public, and she accused public officials of accepting industry claims uncritically.

Read the EPA’s Statement on the 50th Anniversary of Silent Spring

NSF International’s Comprehensive CCS-11804 Protocol Is Established for Swimming Spas, Hot Tubs, and Related Equipment

NSF International, an independent global organization that establishes standards, tests and certifies products for the water, food and consumer goods industries, has developed the first comprehensive protocol that evaluates the performance, health and safety of every component of a swim spa.

The new protocol, CCS-11804, includes testing and evaluation criteria in these areas:

• Performance testing – evaluates the durability, strength and chemical resistance of the spa shell and other components.
• Material evaluation – verifies that water contact materials meet regulations for corrosion resistance, toxicological health and safety and do not leach harmful contaminants into the swim spa water.
• Accessibility and safety features – tests the effectiveness of safety features such as floor and step slip resistance, step dimensions, depth markings, handholds and railings.
• Filtration and water chemistry – ensures the chemical treatment, water skimming and particulate filtration systems perform at a high level and effectively filter contaminants.
• Suction fittings and systems testing – tests the entire swim current or exercise system for entrapment safety. This includes verifying that suction vacuum release systems and suction fittings are compliant with ANSI/APSP 16 (formerly known as ASME/ANSI A112.19.8), as mandated by the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act.

Master Spas’ Michael Phelps Signature Swim Spas are the first to earn certification to the new protocol.

 

NSF’s Press Release with More Information about Spa Certification.

An Abandoned Wastewater Treatment Plant is Oozing Trichloroethylene

The town of Salem, NH has been spending at least $100,000 per year for the last 15 years in an effort to clean up pollution left behind when it closed its old wastewater treatment plant in in mid-1980s.

The issue now is environmental contamination caused by the chemical trichloroethylene, a solvent that is carcinogenic. After being closed for 25 years, the old plant is still the source of excessive amounts of TCE.  Now, $306,000 additional is being requested for 2013 cleanup activities.

Trichloroethene is a manufactured, volatile organic chemical. It has been used as a solvent to remove grease from metal. Trichloroethene has also been used as a paint stripper, adhesive solvent and as an ingredient in paints and varnishes. The chemical can affect the nervous system.

TCE can cause liver and kidney damage, and other ailments.  It is probably  carcinogenic to humans.  In small amounts, TCE can cause headaches, lung irritation, poor coordination, and difficulty concentrating.

Small amounts of TCE can contaminate large amounts of groundwater.  Salem is doing its best to deal with a dangerous and frustrating problem.

More information from the Salem Eagle-Tribune.

 

Lifelong Friend of the Environment, Russell Train,  Is Dead at Age 92

 

Mr. Russell E. Train, a respected conservationist and environmentalist, died September 17, 2012 at the age of 92.

 

Train was chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality under President Nixon and then served as EPA administrator under President Ford. He was, according to the New York Times,” among a select group of senior administration officials and Congressional leaders who shaped the world’s first comprehensive program for scrubbing the skies and waters of pollution, ensuring the survival of ecologically significant plants and animals, and safeguarding citizens from exposure to toxic chemicals.”

Train was also instrumental in the formation and administration of the influential environmental group the  World Wildlife Fund.  As a moderate Republican he is said to have had much influence on President Nixon and the development of much of the administration’s environmental policy.   Train is reported to have  explained to Nixon the power of environmental issues to galvanize voters.

Train became EPA administrator during the Watergate era.  He remained active in environmental causes even during his last years, becoming chairman emeritus of the World Wildlife Fund 12 years ago and serving an active role in the organization.

“Train came to symbolize the bipartisan nature of the environmental movement more than 40 years ago when many conservatives were enthusiastic advocates of environmentalism,”  according to the Associated Press.   His ability to put the needs of the environment above politics is in short supply today.

 

More information about Mr. Train from the New York Times.

Even  Drought Has Advantages

If the current drought has an upside, it is that the Great Lakes may get some relief from algae blooms that form the “green slime” that’s been getting steadily worse in recent years. That’s because this year’s drought conditions are expected to  dramatically reduced the number and intensity of heavy spring rains that wash farm field fertilizers into agricultural watersheds that drain into the lakes.

Half a century ago, the nation and states around the lakes legislated an end to the wholesale dumping of sewage and industrial waste in the lakes.  Before that legislation, algae blooms, which result from the mixing of such wastes as phosphorous, manure, and other nutrients into the warm lake waters, were common.

The federal Clean Water Act of 1972 quickly made things better, and the lakes enjoyed several decades without green slime.

Now the slime is back again, worse than ever in some places.

The cure is difficult, although there is no doubt that it is simply a matter of preventing nutrients, especially phosphorous, from entering the lakes.  This sounds easy but it is a thorny political problem, especially with a congress reluctant to regulate the activities of business.

According to the Ohio Lake Erie Commission and other groups studying the blooms, the problem comes from three sources — “1) overflowing and aged municipal sewage treatment plants, 2) industrial agriculture practices that pour fertilizer on farm fields and concentrate livestock in massive, manure-producing confined feeding operations, and 3) sprawling metropolitan land use patterns that are so parking lot- and highway-hardened that rain washes everything on the ground into the nearest waterway.”

According to Grist–“Large corn and soy farms are mostly to blame, scientists and activists say, because they rely heavily on large quantities of phosphorous- and nitrogen-rich fertilizer that leach into the lakes, where they feed toxic blooms of cladophora and other nasty algae species. Manure from factory farms only adds to the nutrient load.”

These are problems fixed by the Clean Water Act that now need to be fixed again.

More information from Circle of Blue.