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Green Roofs - My Ah-Ha Moment

Posted on May 9, 2008 | Filed Under Green Infrastructure, Healthy Waters, Mid-Atlantic, Sewage

Katherine Baer, Director
Healthy Waters Campaign

Standing with Barbara Deutsch on the green roof at Casey Trees here in Washington, DC, I had my ah-ha moment. Now, Gary has done a great job of explaining what a green roof is and how it works, but I needed to experience one for myself. So we went on a green roof mini-tour visiting Casey Trees as well as the green roof at the American Society for Landscape Architects (ASLA). At Casey Trees, the roof was green, or at least brown-green, covered with sedum plants that cool the building, extend the life of the roof and reduce polluted stormwater runoff.

“Just look at all these other roofs,” said Barbara pointing out toward the buildings surrounding McPherson Square. “All of that prime rooftop real estate is just wasted space.”

Wow. A whole new perspective, the bird’s-eye view of real estate. We’re wasting a whole dimension of our cities by leaving rooftops flat and devoid of life. If every building had a green roof, cities would be greener, more attractive, and cooler. In fact, Casey Trees and Limno Tech (pdf) found that if 80% of eligible rooftops in DC had green roofs combined sewer overflows to the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers would be reduced by 15% and air pollutants reduced by almost 17 tons.

So with all these benefits the real question is - why aren’t we doing this all the time to increase the effective green infrastructure of our communities? The usual barriers exist, like lack of familiarity, although that’s waning and there is now quite a green roof industry in the U.S.

But what are the best ways to institutionalize green roof techniques so they are the norm for all new construction and roof replacement. Ideas, anyone?

A Spoonful of Medicine Makes the Water Go Down - part 2

Posted on March 24, 2008 | Filed Under Clean Water, Healthy Waters, Sewage

Katherine Baer, Director
Healthy Waters Campaign

A couple days back, we highlighted the alarming report from the AP that found pharmaceutical compounds in the drinking water of 40 million Americans. Although a Seattle comedian calls it “a clever way to tap into the drug supply,” it’s enough to get you worried. Given the increased reliance on medications, sewage treatment inadequate to remove these compounds, and improper drug disposal, our streams and rivers are going to continue to be a drug soup for a while.

So, what are some of the solutions? Here are two to start:

Make the Environmental Protection Agency complete their requirement to screen these compounds for their effects on humans - According to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), EPA has missed numerous deadlines to test for endocrine disrupting compounds as required by federal law since 1996. Drinking water suppliers should be testing for the compounds - the AP report revealed that only some are doing so.

Improve drug disposal - 54% of Americans throw unused drugs in the trash where they can leach into groundwater supplies from landfills. Another 35% of Americans and many medical facilities flush unused drugs down the toilet and directly into local waterways. Drug take back programs at pharmacies collect unused drugs and dispose of them safely, usually through incineration. While these programs can’t eliminate pharmaceutical compounds excreted by humans, it is the easiest and most cost-effective way to begin tackling the problem. The Teleosis Institute has created safe disposal sites in California and others are starting as well.

What are your recommendations?

A Spoonful of Medicine Makes the Water Go Down

Posted on March 14, 2008 | Filed Under Clean Water, Healthy Waters, Sewage

Katherine Baer, Director
Healthy Waters Campaign

Big news this week from the Associated Press on pharmaceuticals in our drinking water. In an interview on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, American Rivers’ Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee member Dr. Joan Rose, summed it by explaining that the close connection between human waste, animal waste and our drinking water supply essentially “short circuits the natural environment and leads one to be concerned.”

Here’s the latest on this issue from my colleague Will Hewes:

The Associated Press released the first major report on pharmaceuticals in drinking water supplies in the U.S. this week, and the results aren’t encouraging. Investigators found an array of pharmaceuticals from pain killers to antibiotics to mood stabilizers in the drinking water of 24 major metropolitan water suppliers. Even worse, thirty-four of the sixty-two water suppliers contacted by the AP couldn’t provide results as they had never tested for pharmaceutical compounds.

It’s not time to stop drinking tap water, but these results are certainly a cause for concern. As we noted in our newsletter article last spring, pharmaceuticals have been found in waterways throughout the U.S. While we know very little about how small concentrations of these compounds affect human health, effects on fish and wildlife are well documented. Male fish in the Potomac River near Washington, DC have been found with male and female sex organs, a mutation thought to be caused by pharmaceutical compounds. Laboratory tests have shown that human cells react to the small amounts of discarded medications found in waters throughout the U.S.

This problem isn’t likely to go away any time soon as American drug consumption has increased rapidly in recent years. Americans already fill 3.7 billion prescriptions every year, likely to increase with an aging population. The chemicals in these drugs often end up in waterways after being excreted from the body or when unused medication is flushed down the toilet. Most sewage treatment facilities do not remove the compounds or even monitor for them. The federal government hasn’t stepped in to require testing or set safety limits, leaving us where we are today: with a lot more questions than answers. As a result of the study, several states and cities are now planning to test for these compounds.

You can check this map to see if pharmaceuticals have been found in your drinking water - which is also the source of much bottled water.

Speaking Up for Sewage Right to Know

Posted on October 24, 2007 | Filed Under Government Affairs, Healthy Waters, Sewage

Katherine Baer, Director
Healthy Waters Campaign

Last week, I had the opportunity to testify on the Sewage Right to Know Bill (H.R. 2452) at a hearing in the House of Representatives. Talk about nervous… I remember my colleague Peter Raabe telling me about his experience testifying and that it wasn’t that bad, but still! As it turned out, the Hearing was chaired by the bill’s champions Representatives Bishop (D-NY) and LoBiondo (R-NJ) and so they were pretty amenable to hearing what I had to say about the great need for a consistent federal law to keep people safe while they enjoy swimming and playing in their favorite streams and rivers.

Overall, the testimony was extremely favorable. Dr. Summers, from the Maryland Department of Environment, explained how Maryland’s strong monitoring and notification requirements had helped quantify sewage pollution problems and were greatly appreciated by many utilities as it allowed them to explain and justify why more investment is required. Stuart Whitford, from the Kitsap County Health Department in Washington explained his support of H.R. 2452 by telling a scary story about a sewage spill that went on for two years before anyone realized what was going on (and after 4.8 million gallons of sewage was spilled!).

Microbiologist Erin Lipp did a great job of explaining how potent just a little bit of raw sewage can be and that the illnesses from sewage are vastly underreported.

Finally, even Kevin Schafer, the representative for the wastewater treatment community supported the monitoring and notification, but just wanted to make sure that details were spelled out.

I think that Representative Bishop summed it up pretty well in his blog about the hearing where he wrote:

[E]ven with significant increases in investment, sewer overflows will likely continue to occur. Therefore, it is equally imperative that we provide our citizens with comprehensive and timely notification of sewer overflows.

All in all a good day for sewage right to know - I guess it was worth all the butterflies in my stomach…

More River Action Day coverage

Posted on October 9, 2007 | Filed Under Events, Outreach, Sewage, Wild and Scenic

Chelsea Lane-Miller, Associate Director of Outreach
Outreach Events and Activities

Over the past few weeks, we’ve posted several blogs about our annual River Action Day, held on Sept. 25th this year. Hopefully those have been interesting and useful — but it’s always better to hear it from someone who came to Washington, DC for the event.

Here’s a post from one of the participants — who came last year as well — with her take on the event. And, this blog talks about participants who got hometown media coverage about their trip to the nation’s capital.

You can also read this recap on the event that focuses on sewage right-to-know efforts, or specifically about the progress made on Wild and Scenic Rivers.

River Action Day participants gain traction on local issues

Posted on October 5, 2007 | Filed Under Events, Outreach, Sewage, Wild and Scenic

Chelsea Lane-Miller, Associate Director of Outreach
Outreach Events and Activities

At River Action Day this year, all participants spoke to their Members of Congress about designating more Wild and Scenic Rivers and protecting the public from sewage pollution.

But each one of them also took the opportunity to speak about local issues important to them and the rivers that run through their communities. And, several of them are making progress on these issues — two media stories, one from Colorado and one from Texas, talk about the efforts of some River Action Day participants.

It’s wonderful to see people speaking out for rivers. Hopefully the attention these advocates are bringing to their hometown rivers will translate into positive decisions for the rivers and for the communities that depend upon them.

4th annual River Action Day a success

Posted on September 27, 2007 | Filed Under Events, Outreach, Sewage, Wild and Scenic

Chelsea Lane-Miller, Associate Director of Outreach
Outreach Events and Activities

This past Tuesday, September 25th, American Rivers hosted the fourth annual River Action Day. We wanted to give you a quick recap of the day’s events:

72 river activists made it to town from all over the country, 28 states in all, including the District of Columbia.

4 VIPs attended the event including Major Tony Gioia of Camp Verde, AZ; microbiologist Dr. Joan Rose from Michigan State (who also delivered our keynote speech at Monday’s training); Chief Calleen Siske-Franco of the Winnemem-Wintu Tribe of Northern California; and American Rivers board member Rick Holten.

Activists and staff went on more than 174 scheduled Hill visits, including 24 meetings with Members of Congress. The final tally is probably closer to 200 including drop-by visits.

7 Members of Congress attended our reception in the Capitol including our three awardees Representatives Bishop (D-NY), LoBiondo (R-NJ), and Dicks (D-WA). Representatives Carney (D-PA), Petri (R-WI), Coble (R-NC), and Atkin (R-MO) also stopped by for a drink.

6 new cosponsors joined the Sewage Right-to-Know bill by the end of Tuesday as a DIRECT result of lobbying by our activists. The bill is now scheduled for a hearing in the House on October 16th.

Rep. Myrick (R-NC) co-sponsored the Perquimans Wild and Scenic study bill, giving it bipartisan support.

The Vermont delegation introduced legislation to study the Missisquoi River for Wild and Scenic designation.

And, finally, Sen. McCain (R-AZ) began pressing for the Senate to move his bill and designate Fossil Creek as a Wild and Scenic River.

American Rivers wants to thank all River Action Day participants for speaking out for healthy rivers at this year’s River Action Day. Check out this blog for even more information on the event.

Right to Know Bill on the Move!

Posted on September 21, 2007 | Filed Under Clean Water, Healthy Waters, Sewage

Katherine Baer, Director
Healthy Waters Campaign

Great news - Senator Lautenberg has just introduced the Senate version of the Sewage Overflow Right to Know Act. This makes a lot of sense when you think about as Senator Lautenberg has been a long time leader in increasing the public’s right to know for environmental and health risks. As an author of legislation creating the Toxics Release Inventory and the BEACH Act, he clearly recognizes the values of transparency and full disclosure when it comes to public health. We’ll be working to get other Member of Congress to see the light and join on as co-sponsors to both the House and Senate bills as part of River Action Day next week.

The Senate is also starting to address one of the key solutions to sewage pollution - the need for more funding. A hearing on Wednesday stressed the need for more investment in our crumbling infrastructure as well as having this money better spent by using more green infrastructure.

Stay tuned for more details to come…

Anacostia River and Youth Voices

Posted on September 10, 2007 | Filed Under Mid-Atlantic, Outreach, Sewage

Chelsea Lane-Miller, Associate Director of Outreach
Outreach Events and Activities

I wake up to the radio in the morning, which means that sometimes I don’t really wake up when the alarm goes off. I drift in and out of sleep, catching random parts of various radio stories. Today was one of those mornings. Until I heard Bill Redlin talk about Washington DC’s problem with sewer overflows. My eyes flew open.

treated sewage Combined sewer overflows, or CSOs, are a problem facing many communities across the country. Combined means that both sewage and rain go to the same treatment plant. When it rains and the wastewater treatment plant can’t hold the increased load, the sewer systems are designed to overflow sending polluted stormwater runoff and raw sewage into rivers and streams.

The local NPR station in Washington, DC, WAMU, has a program called Youth Voices. It teaches high school students to create stories for the radio, and encourages them to do stories on issues impacting their communities. The story I heard this morning about sewer overflows was part of this program. You can listen to it here.

If you listened to the story, you’ll find that fixing the problem can be expensive. That’s why we think a good first step to fixing the problem is alerting people when there are sewage overflows so they (and their pets) can atleast avoid the places where there are overflows so that they don’t get sick.

If you think this makes sense, check out this video and tell us how you feel about sewage in your water.

Big problems for world’s biggest hydro dam

Posted on August 30, 2007 | Filed Under Clean Water, Flood Protection, Global Warming, Northwest, Sewage

Amy Kober
Northwest Outreach & Communications Director

Messing with nature can bring some hefty consequences. See, for example, the “Hurricane Highway” built by the Army Corps of Engineers that worsened flooding in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit.

Another example in the news today is China’s Three Gorges Dam. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports on a host of problems plaguing the world’s largest hydroelectric dam:

“Now, a year after completion, the project has new problems — including landslides, water pollution and suggestions that the dam could contribute to the very flooding it was built to prevent.�?

Frequent fluctuations in water levels have triggered landslides –

“Local officials worry that a whole mountainside here could collapse into the water, killing residents and threatening a vital shipping lane.�?

Water pollution is also a concern –

“The urbanization that accompanied the dam’s construction led to more raw sewage and fertilizer runoff, which collects in the reservoir rather than flushing downstream.�?

This pretty much sums it up:

“The emerging issues at Three Gorges illustrate this rapidly industrializing country’s efforts to control its environment, and how the attempts to overcome them can worsen the problem.�?

Obviously, the economic development of China and how it manages its rivers are complex issues (see my blog post about guide and China-rivers-expert Jim Norton).

Still, the Wall Street Journal article is a good reminder that working with nature can be a lot smarter, safer and cost-effective than working against it.

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