With the pollutions & contaminations on the air & earth, the sources of Drinking water shall be tested constantly to ensure that the safety standard is enforced.
Residential wells to be tested in Rockland County
Residential drinking wells will now have to be tested in Rockland County.
At recent legislative committee meetings, concerns were raised regarding the quality of water in the 6,000 to 8,000 private wells throughout the county and public awareness of the need to regularly test private wells.
“The purpose of this law is to protect public health and safety,” said the measure’s sponsor, county legislator Ellen Jaffee. “Well water is an extremely important, affordable and often preferred source of drinking water that needs to be better protected. As elected officials, we have the responsibility and mandate to make good policy to protect the health of children and families in our county. Protecting public health includes protecting its drinking water.”
Contamination of well water resulting from industrial activities, commercial activities, and pesticide application and other forms of groundwater contamination raises concerns that unsuspecting, innocent purchasers of residential homes and residents of rental apartments may be endangered unless a well water test is completed prior to acquisition of homes, on a regular and ongoing basis for rental properties and before new wells are used, Jaffee said.
Under the new law, when a sale contract is signed for any property served by a private water system within Rockland, the seller will be required to begin the process of testing the well water and obtain written certification from a New York State approved laboratory that their private water system, based on analysis of untreated or raw water, conforms to county water standards. Property sellers would be required to obtain a certified laboratory test of a wide range of contaminants, not just bacteria, and results shared by both parties. The property seller will be required to arrange for and pay the cost of this testing. Read More....
Hudson Valley News story
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Friday, December 24, 2004
State Partners with USDA for Republican River Water Savings
Converting Crop land to dry land may save the water usage. But is anyone looking into the issue of the dust & other pollutions that associate with the dry land applications?? I recommend that there always need to find a balnce , pollutions & contaminations are always co-exist.
State Partners with USDA for Republican River Water Savings
LINCOLN ---Irrigation farmers in 14 southwest Nebraska counties along the Republican River are being offered a one-time $100 per acre bonus payment to convert irrigated cropland to some other land use, according to state and federal officials here.
Steve Chick, NRCS State Conservationist, and Roger Patterson, Director of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources, are announcing one million dollars of state funds will be an added incentive to NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program funds to reduce irrigated cropland acres and water use.
Patterson said, �These funds are part of the action needed to reduce Nebraska�s water usage to comply with the Republican River Compact. We will add the incentive payment on up to 10,000 eligible acres.� Irrigated land within approximately two and one-half miles of the Republican River or its tributaries will be eligible.
Chick said, �These state funds will be committed with approved Environmental Quality Incentives Program applications now being accepted in local NRCS offices. An EQIP contract can pay between $50 and $100 per year for three years for irrigated land conversions.
In the EQIP program, converting from irrigated land to another land use has different amounts of payment. Converting irrigated land to dry land cropland has a $50 per acre payment; conversion to non-irrigated pasture and hay land has a $60 per acre payment; conversion to non-irrigated rangeland has $90 per acre payment; and conversion to non-irrigated wildlife habitat has a $100 per acre payment. The EQIP incentive payments are offered up to three years of a four year contract. The state payment is a one-time incentive payment of $100 per acre, no matter which option is selected.
The state incentive is offered only to producers who receive an approved EQIP contract on the qualifying acres. Eligible land must have been irrigated two of the previous five years. The maximum total area cannot exceed 160 acres. An entire field will generally rank higher in application scoring than partial fields. Irrigated land adjacent to a sprinkler system is not eligible unless the land under a sprinkler is also enrolled.
Contracts that convert land to dry land cropland can not be irrigated for the life of the contract. Contracts that convert land to grass cover must be maintained without irrigation for 10 years. Read More....
State Partners with USDA for Republican River Water Savings
State Partners with USDA for Republican River Water Savings
LINCOLN ---Irrigation farmers in 14 southwest Nebraska counties along the Republican River are being offered a one-time $100 per acre bonus payment to convert irrigated cropland to some other land use, according to state and federal officials here.
Steve Chick, NRCS State Conservationist, and Roger Patterson, Director of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources, are announcing one million dollars of state funds will be an added incentive to NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program funds to reduce irrigated cropland acres and water use.
Patterson said, �These funds are part of the action needed to reduce Nebraska�s water usage to comply with the Republican River Compact. We will add the incentive payment on up to 10,000 eligible acres.� Irrigated land within approximately two and one-half miles of the Republican River or its tributaries will be eligible.
Chick said, �These state funds will be committed with approved Environmental Quality Incentives Program applications now being accepted in local NRCS offices. An EQIP contract can pay between $50 and $100 per year for three years for irrigated land conversions.
In the EQIP program, converting from irrigated land to another land use has different amounts of payment. Converting irrigated land to dry land cropland has a $50 per acre payment; conversion to non-irrigated pasture and hay land has a $60 per acre payment; conversion to non-irrigated rangeland has $90 per acre payment; and conversion to non-irrigated wildlife habitat has a $100 per acre payment. The EQIP incentive payments are offered up to three years of a four year contract. The state payment is a one-time incentive payment of $100 per acre, no matter which option is selected.
The state incentive is offered only to producers who receive an approved EQIP contract on the qualifying acres. Eligible land must have been irrigated two of the previous five years. The maximum total area cannot exceed 160 acres. An entire field will generally rank higher in application scoring than partial fields. Irrigated land adjacent to a sprinkler system is not eligible unless the land under a sprinkler is also enrolled.
Contracts that convert land to dry land cropland can not be irrigated for the life of the contract. Contracts that convert land to grass cover must be maintained without irrigation for 10 years. Read More....
State Partners with USDA for Republican River Water Savings
Sandia To Begin Testing Innovative Arsenic-removal Technologies In Socorro, N.M.
I am confident upon the completion of test & when it is commercialised, it shall bring significant benefits to mankind. I would provide more of my finding in the future article.
Sandia To Begin Testing Innovative Arsenic-removal Technologies In Socorro, N.M.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Over the next few weeks researchers at the National Nuclear Security Administration's Sandia National Laboratories will begin testing innovative ways to treat arsenic-contaminated water in an effort to reduce costs to municipalities of meeting the new arsenic standard issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The testing is sponsored by the Arsenic Water Technology Partnership (AWTP), a multiyear-program funded by a congressional appropriation through the U.S. Department of Energy.
"The goals of the program are to develop, demonstrate, and disseminate information about cost-effective water treatment technologies in order to help small communities in the Southwest and other parts of the country comply with the new EPA standard," says Malcolm Siegel, Sandia Arsenic Treatment Technology Demonstration Project Manager.
The tests will be conducted at a geothermal spring used to supply drinking water to Socorro, N.M., a town of about 9,000 residents located 80 miles south of Albuquerque. Installation of test equipment will be completed in December by Sandians Randy Everett and Brian Dwyer, and regular operations will begin before Christmas following a preliminary "shakedown" period. Another member of the team, Alicia Aragon, will present results of laboratory studies supporting the pilot tests at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Society in San Francisco next week.
AWTP members include Sandia, the Awwa Research Foundation (AwwaRF), and WERC, a Consortium for Environmental Education and Technology Development.
The Awwa Research Foundation is managing bench-scale research programs. Sandia will conduct the demonstration program, and WERC will evaluate the economic feasibility of the technologies investigated and conduct technology transfer activities.
Congressional support and design of the Arsenic Water Technology Partnership was developed under the leadership of U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., to help small communities comply with the new EPA drinking water standard for arsenic. The new regulation, which will go into effect in January 2006, reduces the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) from 50 micrograms per liter (�g/L) to 10 �g/L and is designed to reduce the incidence of bladder and lung cancers caused by exposure to arsenic.
Levels of naturally occurring arsenic in the Southwestern U.S. often exceed the new MCL. The new compliance requirements will impact small communities in the country that lack the appropriate treatment infrastructure and funding to reduce arsenic to such levels.
The pilot test in Socorro will compare five innovative technologies developed by universities, small businesses, and large well-established water treatment companies and should last about nine months. These treatment processes were chosen from more than 20 candidate technologies that were reviewed by teams of technical experts at Arsenic Treatment Technology Vendor Forums organized by Sandia and held at the 2003 and 2004 New Mexico Environmental Health Conferences.
Sandia is developing plans for future tests in rural and Native American communities in New Mexico and other parts of the country. These additional sites will be chosen through consultation with a number of agencies including the New Mexico Environment Department, the EPA, the Indian Health Service, the Navajo Nation EPA, and the Interstate Technology Regulatory Council. In addition, the AWTP will post a website application where interested communities can ask to be considered for a pilot. Read More....
Sandia To Begin Testing Innovative Arsenic-removal Technologies In Socorro, N.M.
Sandia To Begin Testing Innovative Arsenic-removal Technologies In Socorro, N.M.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Over the next few weeks researchers at the National Nuclear Security Administration's Sandia National Laboratories will begin testing innovative ways to treat arsenic-contaminated water in an effort to reduce costs to municipalities of meeting the new arsenic standard issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The testing is sponsored by the Arsenic Water Technology Partnership (AWTP), a multiyear-program funded by a congressional appropriation through the U.S. Department of Energy.
"The goals of the program are to develop, demonstrate, and disseminate information about cost-effective water treatment technologies in order to help small communities in the Southwest and other parts of the country comply with the new EPA standard," says Malcolm Siegel, Sandia Arsenic Treatment Technology Demonstration Project Manager.
The tests will be conducted at a geothermal spring used to supply drinking water to Socorro, N.M., a town of about 9,000 residents located 80 miles south of Albuquerque. Installation of test equipment will be completed in December by Sandians Randy Everett and Brian Dwyer, and regular operations will begin before Christmas following a preliminary "shakedown" period. Another member of the team, Alicia Aragon, will present results of laboratory studies supporting the pilot tests at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Society in San Francisco next week.
AWTP members include Sandia, the Awwa Research Foundation (AwwaRF), and WERC, a Consortium for Environmental Education and Technology Development.
The Awwa Research Foundation is managing bench-scale research programs. Sandia will conduct the demonstration program, and WERC will evaluate the economic feasibility of the technologies investigated and conduct technology transfer activities.
Congressional support and design of the Arsenic Water Technology Partnership was developed under the leadership of U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., to help small communities comply with the new EPA drinking water standard for arsenic. The new regulation, which will go into effect in January 2006, reduces the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) from 50 micrograms per liter (�g/L) to 10 �g/L and is designed to reduce the incidence of bladder and lung cancers caused by exposure to arsenic.
Levels of naturally occurring arsenic in the Southwestern U.S. often exceed the new MCL. The new compliance requirements will impact small communities in the country that lack the appropriate treatment infrastructure and funding to reduce arsenic to such levels.
The pilot test in Socorro will compare five innovative technologies developed by universities, small businesses, and large well-established water treatment companies and should last about nine months. These treatment processes were chosen from more than 20 candidate technologies that were reviewed by teams of technical experts at Arsenic Treatment Technology Vendor Forums organized by Sandia and held at the 2003 and 2004 New Mexico Environmental Health Conferences.
Sandia is developing plans for future tests in rural and Native American communities in New Mexico and other parts of the country. These additional sites will be chosen through consultation with a number of agencies including the New Mexico Environment Department, the EPA, the Indian Health Service, the Navajo Nation EPA, and the Interstate Technology Regulatory Council. In addition, the AWTP will post a website application where interested communities can ask to be considered for a pilot. Read More....
Sandia To Begin Testing Innovative Arsenic-removal Technologies In Socorro, N.M.
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Why heart attacks run in families: Genetics
My late Mom have heart attack at 45, my youngest sister have heart attack at 30. Yes, according to my research, heart disease have something to do with Genes or DNA.
Before Nano-Tech can found a solution to it, the best things to do is to prevent it from happening.
The Most important things is Drink 8 glasses of filters water a day atleast.
Why heart attacks run in families: Genetics
By Steve Sternberg, USA TODAY
For years, the Steffensen family of Buffalo Center, Iowa, blamed heaping helpings of what they call "good old Iowa farm cooking" for a more distressing family tradition: heart attacks.
Don Steffensen's heart nearly quit while he was duck hunting with friends when he was 62. When his doctors learned that he and eight of his 11 siblings had heart problems, they recruited the family for a landmark genetic analysis. Their two-year study shifted some of the blame for the family's misfortune from meat, potatoes and gravy to a faulty gene.
"They're hard-wired to have a heart attack," says Eric Topol of the Cleveland Clinic, who led the team that identified the abnormality.
The good news is that more healthful living can literally change a person's genetic destiny by staving off a gene's ill effects for years, maybe even decades.
"Everyone right now is pretty doggone glad we did it, I can tell you," Steffensen says of the family's participation in the research. "It enlightened us. It wasn't just the food."
The Cleveland Clinic study is just one of several worldwide devoted to teasing out why heart attacks run in families and how to prevent them. Geneticists at the Icelandic company deCode, for instance, have identified a different genetic cause of heart attacks that may be remedied with a drug now in human trials.
Unlike the Steffensen study, which aimed to identify a gene in one family that may be implicated in heart attacks in the general population, Icelandic researchers carried out a painstaking genetic analysis of a large population. They used hundreds of heart attack patients and family members in Iceland to look for any genes that might be related to heart attacks.
The analysis, made possible by the company's countrywide access to genetic information, identified the FLAP gene, which appears to double a person's heart disease risk.
"The genetic factors we're working on are dramatically different than the ones Eric Topol is working on," says deCode CEO Kari Stefansson. "We're working on heart attacks as a public health problem."
It would be a mistake to pin all the blame for heart disease on genetics, Topol cautions.
Unlike so-called single-gene disorders such as cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia, heart attacks result from a mix of genetic factors and behaviors. No medicine can counter the long-term cumulative effects of a sedentary lifestyle, smoking and a high-salt, high-fat diet. That's why doctors place so much emphasis on eliminating risk factors and controlling diabetes.
For the Steffensens and others like them, the benefit of knowing that they are vulnerable to heart attacks comes not from having a medicine that can lower their risk, but from a test result that permits them to be proactive and live a heart-healthy life.
"We might not be able to eliminate the risk, but we should be able to forestall it," Topol says. "We can change natural history."
For Steffensen's son, Mark, 38, who has a high-pressure job in New York's financial district and is the father of two young children, it's a comforting notion. He eats healthful food and exercises.
Knowing that his two children, Zoe, 4, and Ian, 1½, may share Dad's genetic susceptibility, Steffensen has all but eliminated visits to McDonald's —"Sure, we go once in a while. It's a treat for the kids" — and has begun to think about prevention.
"Will I have my kids tested?" he says. "The answer to that is yes."
Steffensens' genes studied
The Cleveland Clinic's foray into the heart disease genetics, a project called Gene Quest, began in the mid-'90s. Don Steffensen volunteered in 2002. During one of his routine visits for advanced cardiac care, his wife overheard doctors talking about their genetic research. "My wife said, 'You'd better talk to them about getting into this thing,' " Steffensen says. Read More...
USATODAY.com - Why heart attacks run in families: Genetics
Before Nano-Tech can found a solution to it, the best things to do is to prevent it from happening.
The Most important things is Drink 8 glasses of filters water a day atleast.
Why heart attacks run in families: Genetics
By Steve Sternberg, USA TODAY
For years, the Steffensen family of Buffalo Center, Iowa, blamed heaping helpings of what they call "good old Iowa farm cooking" for a more distressing family tradition: heart attacks.
Don Steffensen's heart nearly quit while he was duck hunting with friends when he was 62. When his doctors learned that he and eight of his 11 siblings had heart problems, they recruited the family for a landmark genetic analysis. Their two-year study shifted some of the blame for the family's misfortune from meat, potatoes and gravy to a faulty gene.
"They're hard-wired to have a heart attack," says Eric Topol of the Cleveland Clinic, who led the team that identified the abnormality.
The good news is that more healthful living can literally change a person's genetic destiny by staving off a gene's ill effects for years, maybe even decades.
"Everyone right now is pretty doggone glad we did it, I can tell you," Steffensen says of the family's participation in the research. "It enlightened us. It wasn't just the food."
The Cleveland Clinic study is just one of several worldwide devoted to teasing out why heart attacks run in families and how to prevent them. Geneticists at the Icelandic company deCode, for instance, have identified a different genetic cause of heart attacks that may be remedied with a drug now in human trials.
Unlike the Steffensen study, which aimed to identify a gene in one family that may be implicated in heart attacks in the general population, Icelandic researchers carried out a painstaking genetic analysis of a large population. They used hundreds of heart attack patients and family members in Iceland to look for any genes that might be related to heart attacks.
The analysis, made possible by the company's countrywide access to genetic information, identified the FLAP gene, which appears to double a person's heart disease risk.
"The genetic factors we're working on are dramatically different than the ones Eric Topol is working on," says deCode CEO Kari Stefansson. "We're working on heart attacks as a public health problem."
It would be a mistake to pin all the blame for heart disease on genetics, Topol cautions.
Unlike so-called single-gene disorders such as cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia, heart attacks result from a mix of genetic factors and behaviors. No medicine can counter the long-term cumulative effects of a sedentary lifestyle, smoking and a high-salt, high-fat diet. That's why doctors place so much emphasis on eliminating risk factors and controlling diabetes.
For the Steffensens and others like them, the benefit of knowing that they are vulnerable to heart attacks comes not from having a medicine that can lower their risk, but from a test result that permits them to be proactive and live a heart-healthy life.
"We might not be able to eliminate the risk, but we should be able to forestall it," Topol says. "We can change natural history."
For Steffensen's son, Mark, 38, who has a high-pressure job in New York's financial district and is the father of two young children, it's a comforting notion. He eats healthful food and exercises.
Knowing that his two children, Zoe, 4, and Ian, 1½, may share Dad's genetic susceptibility, Steffensen has all but eliminated visits to McDonald's —"Sure, we go once in a while. It's a treat for the kids" — and has begun to think about prevention.
"Will I have my kids tested?" he says. "The answer to that is yes."
Steffensens' genes studied
The Cleveland Clinic's foray into the heart disease genetics, a project called Gene Quest, began in the mid-'90s. Don Steffensen volunteered in 2002. During one of his routine visits for advanced cardiac care, his wife overheard doctors talking about their genetic research. "My wife said, 'You'd better talk to them about getting into this thing,' " Steffensen says. Read More...
USATODAY.com - Why heart attacks run in families: Genetics
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Cities reach deal on drinking water
Cewrtainly this is a wise things to do between cities or peaceful solutions.
In Asia, Malaysia & Singapore frequently gone into problem on the Water supply issue, although it was 1st sealed by the British Government in 1960.
Since then very frequent the two nations have been going over & again on the water issues very frequently. There must be more hearts for their people from both national authority. Whatever their differences, their citizen suffers.
Cities reach deal on drinking water
S.F., Daly City will work together to store reserves.
By Ethan Fletcher | Staff Writer
Published on Monday, December 20, 2004
URL: http://www.examiner.com/article/index.cfm/i/122004n_water
DALY CITY -- The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has entered into an agreement with Daly City to collect and store reserve groundwater to hedge against future possible droughts.
The SFPUC called the cooperative-use agreement for the Westside Groundwater Basin, which the Daly City council approved on Dec. 13, a landmark accord that marked the first time two users of the Hetch Hetchy water system joined in an effort to store groundwater.
"This historic agreement will help protect San Francisco and the Peninsula against future droughts and water-supply shortages," said Susan Leal, general manager of the SFPUC, in a prepared statement.
Under the agreement, Daly City would essentially have more of its water piped in from Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite during normal or wet years when surface water is plentiful. Normally, the city pumps most of its drinking water from the Westside Basin, a strategy northern Peninsula cities historically use to augment their Hetch Hetchy supply.
By relying more on Hetch Hetchy water, the Westside Basin would be able to naturally replenish its supply and be available during droughts or emergencies. Read more....
San Francisco Examiner: Cities reach deal on drinking water
In Asia, Malaysia & Singapore frequently gone into problem on the Water supply issue, although it was 1st sealed by the British Government in 1960.
Since then very frequent the two nations have been going over & again on the water issues very frequently. There must be more hearts for their people from both national authority. Whatever their differences, their citizen suffers.
Cities reach deal on drinking water
S.F., Daly City will work together to store reserves.
By Ethan Fletcher | Staff Writer
Published on Monday, December 20, 2004
URL: http://www.examiner.com/article/index.cfm/i/122004n_water
DALY CITY -- The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has entered into an agreement with Daly City to collect and store reserve groundwater to hedge against future possible droughts.
The SFPUC called the cooperative-use agreement for the Westside Groundwater Basin, which the Daly City council approved on Dec. 13, a landmark accord that marked the first time two users of the Hetch Hetchy water system joined in an effort to store groundwater.
"This historic agreement will help protect San Francisco and the Peninsula against future droughts and water-supply shortages," said Susan Leal, general manager of the SFPUC, in a prepared statement.
Under the agreement, Daly City would essentially have more of its water piped in from Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite during normal or wet years when surface water is plentiful. Normally, the city pumps most of its drinking water from the Westside Basin, a strategy northern Peninsula cities historically use to augment their Hetch Hetchy supply.
By relying more on Hetch Hetchy water, the Westside Basin would be able to naturally replenish its supply and be available during droughts or emergencies. Read more....
San Francisco Examiner: Cities reach deal on drinking water
EPA OKs removal of Montana dam and toxic sediments it holds back
With the research finding shown that the water dam in fact have more negative factors for our environment & mother earth. There would be more & more dams & rivers would be restore to the original nature.
It is important that authority should cut down the time in making the decision, so that objectives & tax payor's money can be channel to the good use of clearing up contaminations.
EPA OKs removal of Montana dam and toxic sediments it holds back
By Bob Anez ASSOCIATED PRESS
1:18 p.m. December 20, 2004
HELENA, Mont. – The Environmental Protection Agency approved a plan Monday for removing the Milltown Dam in Montana and cleaning up mine tailings tainted with arsenic, copper, lead and zinc that have accumulated for decades behind the aging structure.
Issuing the record of decision for the project clears the way for construction of a bypass channel in the Clark Fork River to begin next year and removal of the dam itself in 2006. The EPA has estimated the work, including channel stabilization and revegetation, is expected to take six or seven years and cost about $106 million.
The dam, built in 1907 mostly out of timber and stone, sits at the confluence of the Blackfoot and Clark Fork rivers just upstream from Missoula, Montana's second largest city.
It holds back millions of cubic yards of contaminated sediment that washed down the Clark Fork River from decades of mining and smelting operations upstream in Butte and Anaconda.
City and county leaders in Missoula have supported removing the dam, saying they fear the structure is unsafe. They cite reports of large internal voids found between the bottom of the dam's concrete spillway and its earthen foundation.
The EPA's decision Monday authorizes a cleanup that calls for about 2.6 million cubic yards of the polluted sediment to be hauled away to a Superfund site in Anaconda for disposal.
Two months ago, NorthWestern Corp., whose subsidiary owns the dam after the purchase from the Montana Power Co., asked the federal government for permission to lower the water behind it by 10 feet this winter in preparation for the cleanup.
The cleanup will be paid for by NorthWestern and by Atlantic Richfield Co., which bought the mines and smelters upstream from the Anaconda Co. years ago.
In announcing its final decision, the EPA said the plan will provide environmental protection, restore the Milltown drinking water supply, alleviate concern about a possible dam failure and use existing waste management systems for disposal of the sediment. Read More....
SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Nation -- EPA OKs removal of Montana dam and toxic sediments it holds back
It is important that authority should cut down the time in making the decision, so that objectives & tax payor's money can be channel to the good use of clearing up contaminations.
EPA OKs removal of Montana dam and toxic sediments it holds back
By Bob Anez ASSOCIATED PRESS
1:18 p.m. December 20, 2004
HELENA, Mont. – The Environmental Protection Agency approved a plan Monday for removing the Milltown Dam in Montana and cleaning up mine tailings tainted with arsenic, copper, lead and zinc that have accumulated for decades behind the aging structure.
Issuing the record of decision for the project clears the way for construction of a bypass channel in the Clark Fork River to begin next year and removal of the dam itself in 2006. The EPA has estimated the work, including channel stabilization and revegetation, is expected to take six or seven years and cost about $106 million.
The dam, built in 1907 mostly out of timber and stone, sits at the confluence of the Blackfoot and Clark Fork rivers just upstream from Missoula, Montana's second largest city.
It holds back millions of cubic yards of contaminated sediment that washed down the Clark Fork River from decades of mining and smelting operations upstream in Butte and Anaconda.
City and county leaders in Missoula have supported removing the dam, saying they fear the structure is unsafe. They cite reports of large internal voids found between the bottom of the dam's concrete spillway and its earthen foundation.
The EPA's decision Monday authorizes a cleanup that calls for about 2.6 million cubic yards of the polluted sediment to be hauled away to a Superfund site in Anaconda for disposal.
Two months ago, NorthWestern Corp., whose subsidiary owns the dam after the purchase from the Montana Power Co., asked the federal government for permission to lower the water behind it by 10 feet this winter in preparation for the cleanup.
The cleanup will be paid for by NorthWestern and by Atlantic Richfield Co., which bought the mines and smelters upstream from the Anaconda Co. years ago.
In announcing its final decision, the EPA said the plan will provide environmental protection, restore the Milltown drinking water supply, alleviate concern about a possible dam failure and use existing waste management systems for disposal of the sediment. Read More....
SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Nation -- EPA OKs removal of Montana dam and toxic sediments it holds back
Male Fish Growing Eggs Found in Potomac
According to the Chinese legend (Journey To The West), somewhere in Yunan & Tibet border, there is a country primary populations are girls 99%, they conceived babies by drinking the water of their birth river.
With reference to the news reported last month, the colorado river have found that male fishs are growing eggs. Now is the Potomac river in West Virginia.
So this is alarming about the contaminations done to the Sex change, If these would happen to we human being , these is going to be having a big mess up about the ethics & culture of our civilizations.
Male Fish Growing Eggs Found in Potomac
Male Fish That Are Growing Eggs Found in the Potomac River, Suggesting Pollution Is Spreading
The Associated Press
Dec. 21, 2004 - Male fish that are growing eggs have been found in the Potomac River near Sharpsburg, a sign that a little-understood type of pollution is spreading downstream from West Virginia, a federal scientist says.
The so-called intersex abnormality may be caused by pollutants from sewage plants, feedlots and factories that can interfere with animals' hormone systems, The Washington Post reported Sunday.
Nine male smallmouth bass taken from the Potomac near Sharpsburg, about 60 miles upstream from Washington, were found to have developed eggs inside their sex organs, said Vicki S. Blazer, a scientist overseeing the research for the U.S. Geological Survey.
Authorities say the problems are likely related to a class of pollutants called endocrine disruptors, which short-circuit animals' natural systems of hormone chemical messages.
Officials are awaiting the results of water-quality testing that might point to a specific chemical behind the fish problems, Blazer said.
"It certainly indicates something's going on," Blazer said of the new findings in Maryland. "But what, we don't know."
The Potomac River is the main source of drinking water for the Washington metropolitan area and many upstream communities. It provides about 75 percent of the water supply to the 3.6 million residents of Washington and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs.
Blazer, who works at a federal fish lab in Leetown, W.Va., said she found the latest abnormalities last week while examining tissues from fish taken from the river near Sharpsburg.
The same symptoms had previously been found about 170 miles upstream, in the South Branch of the Potomac in Hardy County, W.Va. Blazer and other scientists discovered the problem there last year while investigating a rash of mass fish deaths.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service researchers are seeking money for a much larger study across the Potomac watershed.
Endocrine disruptors comprise a vast universe of pollutants capable of driving a hormone system haywire. Some are hormones themselves such as human estrogen from women taking birth-control pills or animal hormones washed downstream with manure that can pass through sewage plants untouched.
In Hardy County, officials were especially concerned about chicken waste from poultry farms.
Other endocrine disruptors are hormone "mimics" industrial chemicals or factory byproducts which confuse the body because they are chemically similar to natural hormones.
These pollutants are often found in very low concentrations, so until recently no equipment could detect them. But the first nationwide survey, in 1999 and 2000, found hormones in about 37 percent of streams tested. Read More.....
ABC News: Male Fish Growing Eggs Found in Potomac
With reference to the news reported last month, the colorado river have found that male fishs are growing eggs. Now is the Potomac river in West Virginia.
So this is alarming about the contaminations done to the Sex change, If these would happen to we human being , these is going to be having a big mess up about the ethics & culture of our civilizations.
Male Fish Growing Eggs Found in Potomac
Male Fish That Are Growing Eggs Found in the Potomac River, Suggesting Pollution Is Spreading
The Associated Press
Dec. 21, 2004 - Male fish that are growing eggs have been found in the Potomac River near Sharpsburg, a sign that a little-understood type of pollution is spreading downstream from West Virginia, a federal scientist says.
The so-called intersex abnormality may be caused by pollutants from sewage plants, feedlots and factories that can interfere with animals' hormone systems, The Washington Post reported Sunday.
Nine male smallmouth bass taken from the Potomac near Sharpsburg, about 60 miles upstream from Washington, were found to have developed eggs inside their sex organs, said Vicki S. Blazer, a scientist overseeing the research for the U.S. Geological Survey.
Authorities say the problems are likely related to a class of pollutants called endocrine disruptors, which short-circuit animals' natural systems of hormone chemical messages.
Officials are awaiting the results of water-quality testing that might point to a specific chemical behind the fish problems, Blazer said.
"It certainly indicates something's going on," Blazer said of the new findings in Maryland. "But what, we don't know."
The Potomac River is the main source of drinking water for the Washington metropolitan area and many upstream communities. It provides about 75 percent of the water supply to the 3.6 million residents of Washington and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs.
Blazer, who works at a federal fish lab in Leetown, W.Va., said she found the latest abnormalities last week while examining tissues from fish taken from the river near Sharpsburg.
The same symptoms had previously been found about 170 miles upstream, in the South Branch of the Potomac in Hardy County, W.Va. Blazer and other scientists discovered the problem there last year while investigating a rash of mass fish deaths.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service researchers are seeking money for a much larger study across the Potomac watershed.
Endocrine disruptors comprise a vast universe of pollutants capable of driving a hormone system haywire. Some are hormones themselves such as human estrogen from women taking birth-control pills or animal hormones washed downstream with manure that can pass through sewage plants untouched.
In Hardy County, officials were especially concerned about chicken waste from poultry farms.
Other endocrine disruptors are hormone "mimics" industrial chemicals or factory byproducts which confuse the body because they are chemically similar to natural hormones.
These pollutants are often found in very low concentrations, so until recently no equipment could detect them. But the first nationwide survey, in 1999 and 2000, found hormones in about 37 percent of streams tested. Read More.....
ABC News: Male Fish Growing Eggs Found in Potomac
Monday, December 20, 2004
Clean tech for clean water project in Maldives
I was in Sri-Lanka & Maldive in 1982-83. Maldives is a beautiful islands nation with many small island. They lack of natural river & mountain.
With the Solar technology to purified the sea water, i am sure this would solve the problem of the drinking water issue greatly.
Perhaps country like Singapore, Australia should learn from their experience after Maldives experience.
Clean tech for clean water project in Maldives
Published on 17-Dec-2004
URL: http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=9352
A unique solar-powered, off-grid, water purification project will begin in the Maldives in January 2005, providing local bottled drinking water to be sold to the local community on the island of Kulhudhuffushi.
The project, two years in development, is a joint venture between Solar Energy Systems Infrastructure (SESI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Solco, and a local Maldives company, CDE Pvt Ltd.
Once it is up and running, the project's financier, Solar Investment Fund managed by the Netherlands-based ethical bank Triodos, is considering additional funding for further island water-purification projects throughout the Maldives. The Maldives Foreign Investment Services Bureau has identified twenty islands as having suitable water supplies and a sustainable population base for the units.
The units use solar power to draw the water up from brackish sources below the surface and pass it through a system of reverse osmosis units to remove all pathogens, metals and dissolved solids, using just 20% of the power of a standard reverse osmosis unit.
Each unit can produce 500 litres of water per day from a single 100 Watt (1 square metre) solar panel.
Anthony Maslin, co-founder of Solco Ltd and Executive Director of Solar Energy Systems Infrastructure Ltd, said: "There are other water purification technologies using the same process of reverse osmosis that Solarflow uses, but they are mostly powered by diesel. Solarflow will be cheaper on a price per litre basis and of course have none of diesel's impact on air pollution, climate change or difficulties with maintenance and remote access." Read More...
With the Solar technology to purified the sea water, i am sure this would solve the problem of the drinking water issue greatly.
Perhaps country like Singapore, Australia should learn from their experience after Maldives experience.
Clean tech for clean water project in Maldives
Published on 17-Dec-2004
URL: http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=9352
A unique solar-powered, off-grid, water purification project will begin in the Maldives in January 2005, providing local bottled drinking water to be sold to the local community on the island of Kulhudhuffushi.
The project, two years in development, is a joint venture between Solar Energy Systems Infrastructure (SESI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Solco, and a local Maldives company, CDE Pvt Ltd.
Once it is up and running, the project's financier, Solar Investment Fund managed by the Netherlands-based ethical bank Triodos, is considering additional funding for further island water-purification projects throughout the Maldives. The Maldives Foreign Investment Services Bureau has identified twenty islands as having suitable water supplies and a sustainable population base for the units.
The units use solar power to draw the water up from brackish sources below the surface and pass it through a system of reverse osmosis units to remove all pathogens, metals and dissolved solids, using just 20% of the power of a standard reverse osmosis unit.
Each unit can produce 500 litres of water per day from a single 100 Watt (1 square metre) solar panel.
Anthony Maslin, co-founder of Solco Ltd and Executive Director of Solar Energy Systems Infrastructure Ltd, said: "There are other water purification technologies using the same process of reverse osmosis that Solarflow uses, but they are mostly powered by diesel. Solarflow will be cheaper on a price per litre basis and of course have none of diesel's impact on air pollution, climate change or difficulties with maintenance and remote access." Read More...
Trace amounts of pesticides found in Sask. water
When I am little, I live in Asia. everytime after rainning days, insects & mosquitos all over, then the health Department would start to spray insecticides or pesticides.
Thinks like DDT, once get into the food & vege would get into our body, it cannot be taken out there after, then that is how the toxin built up in us.
Here in US, the control is more promptly . But there still a need to constantly check on these contaminations & people education.
Trace amounts of pesticides found in Sask. water
Last Updated: Dec 17 2004 12:22 PM CST
REGINA - Pesticides have been discovered in the drinking water of six Saskatchewan communities, the Saskatchewan Environment Department says.
However, the department says only "very low" levels of pesticides, mainly herbicides, have been detected and the amounts don't pose a health hazard.
According to the department, the six communities are Assiniboia, Avonlea, Birch Hills, Ceylon, Fleming and Laird.
The department said Friday it has notified all the communities and will be working with them to fix the problem. Carbon filtration and other technologies can be used to reduce or remove pesticides from water supplies.
The six are among 15 prairie communities Environment Canada tested between May 2003 and July 2004.
Sam Ferris, the director of Saskatchewan Environment's water quality branch, said all the levels found are lower than the national drinking water quality guidelines.
The department hasn't said how the water supplies in the six communities became contaminated. It notes that the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority is currently involved in a program that monitors herbicide residue.
Health Canada spokesperson Aarin Bronson said people in the affected communities have no reason to be afraid.
"We're really talking about trace amounts of pesticides here," she said. Read More...
Trace amounts of pesticides found in Sask. water
Thinks like DDT, once get into the food & vege would get into our body, it cannot be taken out there after, then that is how the toxin built up in us.
Here in US, the control is more promptly . But there still a need to constantly check on these contaminations & people education.
Trace amounts of pesticides found in Sask. water
Last Updated: Dec 17 2004 12:22 PM CST
REGINA - Pesticides have been discovered in the drinking water of six Saskatchewan communities, the Saskatchewan Environment Department says.
However, the department says only "very low" levels of pesticides, mainly herbicides, have been detected and the amounts don't pose a health hazard.
According to the department, the six communities are Assiniboia, Avonlea, Birch Hills, Ceylon, Fleming and Laird.
The department said Friday it has notified all the communities and will be working with them to fix the problem. Carbon filtration and other technologies can be used to reduce or remove pesticides from water supplies.
The six are among 15 prairie communities Environment Canada tested between May 2003 and July 2004.
Sam Ferris, the director of Saskatchewan Environment's water quality branch, said all the levels found are lower than the national drinking water quality guidelines.
The department hasn't said how the water supplies in the six communities became contaminated. It notes that the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority is currently involved in a program that monitors herbicide residue.
Health Canada spokesperson Aarin Bronson said people in the affected communities have no reason to be afraid.
"We're really talking about trace amounts of pesticides here," she said. Read More...
Trace amounts of pesticides found in Sask. water
Exercise boosts benefits of plant sterol products Plus 8 Glass of Water
Yes, Exercise & consuming plant sterols do help to bring the Cholesterol levels down.
Most important thing is to drink more purifier or filtered water per day to flush out the toxin in the body, 8 glass of water per day min.
Exercise boosts benefits of plant sterol products
20/12/2004 - Consuming products with plant sterols as well as exercising may offer additional benefits for those at risk of coronary heart disease, say Canadian researchers.
Both consuming plant sterols and exercising have been shown to affect blood cholesterol levels on their own, they note in last month’s issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
"Our research is the first to look at the complementary combined effects of these therapies," said senior author Peter Jones.
The researchers from McGill university recruited 74 non-active individuals between the ages of 40 and 70 and divided them into four different groups: combination (consumed margarine containing plant sterols and exercised), exercise (consumed plant-sterol -free margarine and exercised), sterol only (consumed margarine containing plant sterols and did not exercise) and control (consumed plant-sterol free margarine and did not exercise).
Exercise involved using stair-stepping machines and stationary bicycles three times a week. The subjects were asked to consume margarine four times a day for eight weeks. The researchers analysed blood samples and lipids.
"In comparison with plant sterols or exercise alone, the combination of plant sterols and exercise yielded the most beneficial change in the volunteer's cholesterol and lipid levels," said lead author and McGill doctoral student, Krista Varady. Read More....
Exercise boosts benefits of plant sterol products
Most important thing is to drink more purifier or filtered water per day to flush out the toxin in the body, 8 glass of water per day min.
Exercise boosts benefits of plant sterol products
20/12/2004 - Consuming products with plant sterols as well as exercising may offer additional benefits for those at risk of coronary heart disease, say Canadian researchers.
Both consuming plant sterols and exercising have been shown to affect blood cholesterol levels on their own, they note in last month’s issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
"Our research is the first to look at the complementary combined effects of these therapies," said senior author Peter Jones.
The researchers from McGill university recruited 74 non-active individuals between the ages of 40 and 70 and divided them into four different groups: combination (consumed margarine containing plant sterols and exercised), exercise (consumed plant-sterol -free margarine and exercised), sterol only (consumed margarine containing plant sterols and did not exercise) and control (consumed plant-sterol free margarine and did not exercise).
Exercise involved using stair-stepping machines and stationary bicycles three times a week. The subjects were asked to consume margarine four times a day for eight weeks. The researchers analysed blood samples and lipids.
"In comparison with plant sterols or exercise alone, the combination of plant sterols and exercise yielded the most beneficial change in the volunteer's cholesterol and lipid levels," said lead author and McGill doctoral student, Krista Varady. Read More....
Exercise boosts benefits of plant sterol products
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
