“Stop the Frack Attack” Rally Scheduled

for Washington D. C.

What is expected to be the largest demonstration against fracking to date will take place on the West Lawn of the United States Capitol, Washington, D.C. from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on July 28th.

The organizers, Concerned Citizens,  are issuing a call to action “to demand an end to putting oil and gas drilling profits ahead of public health, clean water and air and the safety of our communities.”

Labeled “Stop the Frack Attack,” the rally will bring thousands to the nation’s capitol to demand greater government responsibility and corporate accountability for harm that existing oil and gas development causes.

For details.

Subsequent Post–07/31/12

The Anti-Fracking Demonstration Took Place as Scheduled

Anti-Fracking Rally, White House, July 28, 2012

On Saturday, July 28th, more than 5,000 people rallied on the West Lawn of the Capitol in Washington, DC, and then marched through the streets of DC as part of the Stop the Frack Attack Rally.

This was the first-ever national rally on fracking. “Fracking,” a violent process that dislodges gas deposits from shale rock formations, is known to contaminate drinking water, pollute the air, and cause earthquakes.

“Our call to action, in concert with over 130 other organizations, was to demand that no more drilling harm our public health, water and air,” said Deb Nardone, Director of the Sierra Club Beyond Natural Gas Campaign. “Elected officials and public agencies must put communities and the environment first, starting with removing special exemptions and subsidies for the oil and gas industry, while ushering in clean, renewable energy.

More Details

A Report from the Environmental Group  American Rivers Advises Communities to Approach Reservoir Proposals with Caution

Southeast U.S. communities should think twice before building new water supply reservoirs, according to a report released  by American Rivers.

The report, Money Pit: The High Cost and High Risk of Water Supply Reservoirs in the Southeast, documents the financial risks and water resource risks tied to the development of new reservoirs. The report comes at a time when many local governments throughout Georgia, the Carolinas and neighboring states are considering significant spending of public taxpayer and ratepayer dollars to build new water supply reservoirs. Collectively, current reservoir proposals in Georgia alone could cost at least $10 billion in taxpayer and ratepayer dollars.

New reservoir pitfalls are many.  Among them:

• Reservoirs are highly expensive, racking up debt for ratepayers and taxpayers.
• A reservoir’s price tag is typically a moving target.
• Reservoir financing plans often rely on inflated population growth projections, ultimately leaving existing residents holding the bag.
• In order to remain full, a reservoir depends on increasingly uncertain rainfall. And, a reservoir loses water when high temperatures cause evaporation.
• Reservoir water is a contested resource subject to competing demands in the river system.

More details about the American Rivers report.

Bee B. Sharper on the Price of Bottled Water

Pure Water Gazette Numerical Wizard B. Bee Sharper Fills in the Blanks That Harper’s Misses

Daily cost of the often recommended 8 glasses of water per day if consumed as tap water–$0.00135.

Yearly cost of the often recommended 8 glasses of water per day if consumed as tap water–$0.49.

Yearly cost of the often recommended 8 glasses of water per day if consumed as bottled water–$1400.

Factor by which the cost of bottled water exceeds the cost of tap water–2900 to 1.

Yearly cost of tap water processed by a Pure Water Products Model 77 countertop water filter  (first year)–$77.49.

Yearly cost of tap water processed by a Pure Water Products Model 77 countertop water filter (subsequent years)–$21.49.

New York Times on Bottled Water Cost

More B. Bea Sharper

 The Coral Reefs in Our Oceans Are Mere Zombies That Will Be Gone Within a Human Generation

Overfishing, ocean acidification and pollution are pushing coral reefs into oblivion. Each of those forces alone is fully capable of causing the global collapse of coral reefs; together, they assure it. The scientific evidence for this is compelling and unequivocal, but there seems to be a collective reluctance to accept the logical conclusion — that there is no hope of saving the global coral reef ecosystem.

What we hear instead is an airbrushed view of the crisis — a view endorsed by coral reef scientists, amplified by environmentalists and accepted by governments. Coral reefs, like rain forests, are a symbol of biodiversity. And, like rain forests, they are portrayed as existentially threatened — but salvageable. The message is: “There is yet hope.” —Roger Bradbury

This is the opinion of Australian Roger Bradbury, expressed in a New York Times op ed piece.  According to Mr. Bradbury, coral reefs now are living only a zombie existence and within a human generation, “There will be remnants here and there, but the global coral reef ecosystem — with its storehouse of biodiversity and fisheries supporting millions of the world’s poor — will cease to be.”

Bradbury’s description of the ocean of the future isn’t appealing:

What we will be left with is an algal-dominated hard ocean bottom, as the remains of the limestone reefs slowly break up, with lots of microbial life soaking up the sun’s energy by photosynthesis, few fish but lots of jellyfish grazing on the microbes. It will be slimy and look a lot like the ecosystems of the Precambrian era, which ended more than 500 million years ago and well before fish evolved.

Bradbury believes that we are wasting valuable time and resources in an effort to save a corpse and that we should instead be focusing on how to live without coral reefs.

Please read The full article from the New York Times.

See also “Are Coral Reefs on the Slippery Slope to Slime?”

Global Water Treatment Chemicals Market to Cross US$ 31 Billion by 2017 Says TechSci Research

According to a recently published report by TechSci Research “Global Water Treatment Chemicals Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2017,” the water treatment chemicals market will surpass $31 billion by 2017,

According to the report, the demand for treatment chemicals is certain to grow enormously in the near future.

The research firm divides treatment chemicals into six very profitable segments:  “Coagulants and Flocculants which accounts for maximum demand globally followed by Biocides and Disinfectant. These two segments alone accounts for more than 60% revenues from water treatment chemicals business. The other segments in water treatment chemicals market are Inhibitors, Defoamers & Defoaming agents, pH adjusters & softeners. By 2017, it is anticipated that highest growth will be witnessed in pH adjusters and softeners market which will growth with compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 4%.”

Imprelis Kills Trees.  Its Effects on Groundwater Have Not Been Determined.

The highly touted herbicide Imprelis, from DuPont, has been found to kill trees and is  not approved for use in New York and California because, among other problems, it leaches into groundwater.

Some 30,000 homeowners, golf courses, municipalities and landscapers have submitted claims blaming Imprelis for tree deaths, with more claims still trickling in.

DuPont would not estimate how many trees have died from exposure to the chemical, but experts on trees say it is likely in the hundreds of thousands.

Victim of DuPont's Imprelis

Reference: New York Times

Chlorine Doesn’t Have To Be Part of Swimming

Chlorination is the standard way of keeping swimming pools free of bacteria, algae, and excessive turbidity.  For a number of years, however,

Swimming Pools Don't Have To Smell Like Bleach

Here are some pool alternatives you might want to explore if you have or plan to have a home swimming pool.

1. Saltwater:  A saltwater pool system uses sodium chloride in a naturally occurring cycle to keep your pool clean. Chlorine is present, due to the off-gassing of the salt, but it’s far less than in a conventional chlorine pool.

2. Ionizer:  An ionizer (so called) uses the mild antibacterial properties of copper and sometimes silver ions to keep your pool clean. Little if any chlorine has to be used.

3. UV/Ozonation: Ultraviolet can be used to keep bacteria down, or UV can also be used to generate ozone to disinfect the pool. A small amount of chlorine will probably be needed to provide a residual disinfectant.

4. Sonic cleaning: Using a machine that produces ultrasonic waves in the water, algae is destroyed at a cellular level.

5. Ecosystem: You can have a totally natural pool by using plants and a breathable bottom. According to MotherEarthNews.com, a pool can be  constructed for as little as $2,000 if you do it yourself, while conventional pools can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

More Information About Chlorine-Free Pools

Health Officials Are Studying the Extent of Arsenic Contamination in Ohio’s Wells

The US Geological Survey is working with state health officials  to test a broad sampling of water in Ohio in an effort to  find arsenic “hot spots” in groundwater.

The EPA lowered the arsenic drinking-water standard from 50 to 10 parts per billion in 2001.

In the public mind, arsenic is often seen only as a poison that kills quickly, but the real danger of arsenic in public water supplies is the long-term effects of relatively small amounts. People who drink water contaminated with arsenic for years are at higher risk of developing skin, liver, bladder and lung cancers.

More About the Ohio Arsenic Survey

More About Arsenic in Water Supplies

 Clean-Up of a Chemical Mess Left by Champion Spark Plugs Subsidiary Is Ongoing, After More Than 20 Years

Between 1930 and 1976, the Hellertown (PA) Manufacturing Company, a subsidiary of Champion Spark Plugs, made spark plugs in the building pictured above.  While in business, they dumped wastes into 5 unlined lagoons on their property.  The company left behind its pollution for taxpayers to clean up and in 1988 the EPA added the site to its Superfund program.

In 1970, the EPA said the company reported it had discharged 300,000 drums of waste to the lagoons, which sat only three miles from an aquifer that provides water to the Hellertown Water Co. In 1991, the EPA began cleaning up the site, covering the lagoons and  extracting and treating the chemicals and compounds in the groundwater. Ever since, environmental officials have been monitoring the area to ensure progress continued.

Groundwater on the site was contaminated chiefly because of the unlined lagoons that were used to dispose of chemical wastes, including cutting oils, zinc-plating waste and chrome-dip waste, according to the EPA. The company pocketed the money it saved  on disposal costs and passed the bill on to taxpayers.

By 2007, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection took over cleanup efforts at the site,  and the cleanup goes on.  Current plans include continuing to pump out wastes from the site at least through 2016.  The land and the buildings, meanwhile,  cannot be used.

The Hellertown cleanup is typical of many gifts taxpayers have made to unregulated businesses.  Leaving businesses to police themselves is a recipe for disaster and corporate welfare of the worst kind.

More Information.

The Ogallala Aquifer In the Lubbock Area Is Dropping at the Third Fastest Rate in 60 Years

“Exceptional drought and record-setting high temperatures,” which called for increased irrigation in both agriculture and urban water use were blamed for the rapid decline of the water level of the west Texas  Ogallala Aquifer.

Lubbock and the South Plains witnessed the third largest decline of groundwater levels since the start of record-keeping 61 years ago. The numbers for 2011 were released in July 2012 by the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District.

There were reports of homeowners being required to drill deeper wells as the groundwater level declines. Farmers are being limited to irrigation quotas of an equivalent of 15 inches of water, which, they say, is not nearly enough.

More Information.