Recently in water pollution Category

Plastics: What’s Dangerous, What’s Not details the possible dangers of some plastics. Many debate the safety of plastics to our health and environment, but more evidence continues to point to potential dangers. What's the best approach? Reduce your exposure:

1. Don't use plastic #s 3, 6 or 7 for food storage.

2. Don't cook in any plastics.

3. Use either a BPA-free, resuable water bottle or go stainless steel.

-D

BUMPED: Great project by a Knoxville church:

St. John's Lutheran Church, 544 N. Broadway, is revamping its main parking lot. But there is no paving involved. Instead, the church is using brick "hardscaping," a technique that aims to be pleasing to the eye as well as easy on the environment.

There's no storm water runoff (a pollution problem for big parking lots), and the pavers last decades longer and look better.

Lush trees and flowers, benches and a large open greenspace will create an area for the church and community members to gather outdoors. Outside of church activities, the lot should be mostly empty. "We wanted to create something uplifting instead of another asphalt jungle," said Don Shell, a designing architect for the new parking lot as well as former president of the church's council.

"Uplifting." Amen, brother. [photo credit]

UPDATED: With some local governments charging rain runoff taxes, this type of paving could prove more cost effective in the long run.

For those of you who think the government is concerned about the environment and your health, the latest from an ongoing Associated Press investigation proves otherwise. Excerpts:

U.S. manufacturers, including major drugmakers, have legally released at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals into waterways that often provide drinking water — contamination the federal government has consistently overlook...

The data don't show precisely how much of the 271 million pounds comes from drugmakers versus other manufacturers; also, the figure is a massive undercount because of the limited federal government tracking.

FDA spokesman Christopher Kelly noted that his agency is not responsible for what comes out on the waste end of drug factories. At the EPA, acting assistant administrator for water Mike Shapiro — whose agency's Web site says pharmaceutical releases from manufacturing are "well defined and controlled" — did not mention factories as a source of pharmaceutical pollution when asked by the AP how drugs get into drinking water.

Most cities and water providers still do not test. Some scientists say that wherever researchers look, they will find pharma-tainted water.

Researchers have found that even extremely diluted concentrations of drugs harm fish, frogs and other aquatic species. Also, researchers report that human cells fail to grow normally in the laboratory when exposed to trace concentrations of certain drugs. Some scientists say they are increasingly concerned that the consumption of combinations of many drugs, even in small amounts, could harm humans over decades.

Your city water may not have a lot of bacteria in it. But it sure has a lot of expensive drugs. You know all of those side effects the durg commercials list? Common sense seems to conclude that exposure to all of these drugs over time is probably not a good thing. -D

Winter is mostly over. When the snow melts, I get disgusted with all the litter I see laying about. So part one of the challenge is:

1. Walk to the end of your driveway, look both ways, and commit to at least keeping that area free of garbage.

This is also the time of year that people start spreading herbicides and pesticides all over the place. Part two of the challenge is:

2. Don't use any herbicides (try eating those extremely healthy dandelions ) and use pesticides only when there's no other choice (and try natural methods first). Same goes with fertilizers.

-D

I can't make this stuff up. Excerpts:

SPOKANE, Wash. – The quest for squeaky-clean dishes has turned some law-abiding people in Spokane into dishwater-detergent smugglers. They are bringing Cascade or Electrasol in from out of state because the eco-friendly varieties required under Washington state law don't work as well. Spokane County became the launch pad last July for the nation's strictest ban on dishwasher detergent made with phosphates, a measure aimed at reducing water pollution.
 
Many people were shocked to find that products like Seventh Generation, Ecover and Trader Joe's left their dishes encrusted with food, smeared with grease and too gross to use without rewashing them by hand. 
 
As a result, there has been a quiet rush of Spokane-area shoppers heading east on Interstate 90 into Idaho in search of old-school suds. Real estate agent Patti Marcotte of Spokane stocks up on detergent at a Costco in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and doesn't care who knows it.
 
"Yes, I am a smuggler," she said.

 

World's water unsafe - women and children hardest hit.

Prevention reports:

Tossing them in the sink or toilet is no longer advisable--traces of prescription drugs are showing up in lakes, rivers, and drinking water, raising questions about harm to wildlife and people. (The pills you do swallow also get into the water supply as part of normally eliminated human waste, but in smaller amounts.) Some communities are developing prescription drug "take back" programs. The government suggests throwing most old meds in the trash--mixed with undesirable material such as used coffee grounds, then sealed in a plastic bag. See more details [here], which includes a few best-to-flush exceptions to this rule.

-D