'Green Mountain' Is Restoring Lives in India, Reducing Mercury Levels, Replenishing Drinking Water
29 January
Popular
Greening the barren mountain has helped recharge groundwater levels in the villages. Photo by Gurvinder Singh. Mongabay India
Jamini Mohan Mahanty is out for a morning walk every day. At 91, he is hale and hearty. A resident of Jharbagda village in Purulia district, West Bengal, Mahanty thanks the "green mountain" in his village for having added some extra years to his life.
<p>"I could have died long ago but the green mountain has given me a fresh lease of life. It has made the environment clean and pollution free. It really energises my soul to see birds chirping and rabbits hiding in the bushes. I come inside the forest everyday to have a brief rendezvous with nature," he said, while resuming his walk with the help of a stick.<em></em></p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/01/the-story-of-a-restored-forest-that-restored-lives/">Mongabay India</a>.</em></p>
<p>A few meters away, the mountain stands tall covered with extensive greenery and rich in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" rel="noopener noreferrer">biodiversity</a>. The mountain exemplifies the collective efforts and hardships of the villagers. As they were grappling with depleting <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/groundwater" rel="noopener noreferrer">groundwater</a> levels, harsh summers and trouble accessing firewood for fuel, the villagers realized that their pressing problems could only be solved by nature. Over the years, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation" rel="noopener noreferrer">deforestation</a> for firewood had depleted the green cover and the villagers decided to regreen the mountain.</p><p>Over nearly 20 years the community has transformed a barren mountain and its adjoining land, into an evergreen man-made <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/forests" rel="noopener noreferrer">forest</a>.</p><p>Tapas Mahanty, a resident of Jharbagda in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/India" rel="noopener noreferrer">India</a>'s eastern state, recollects the time, two decades ago, when extreme summers and water shortage made life difficult for the then 30,000-odd people residing across 20-21 villages surrounding the mountain. </p><p>"We were facing severe water scarcity woes because of depleting ground water levels. Women had to walk for around a kilometre to arrange <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" rel="noopener noreferrer">drinking water</a> as men were out for work. There were often skirmishes and fights over sharing of water at the village taps. It disturbed the harmony of the village," she said.</p><p>Apart from water woes, life also became difficult because of strong winds in summers that spread the heat from the barren mountain. "There was no green cover that could have obstructed the flow of hot and humid winds. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/soil" rel="noopener noreferrer">Soil</a> erosion from the mountain during rains dirtied the ponds and also affected the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/farming" rel="noopener noreferrer">farming</a>. It became difficult to live in the villages located close to the mountain and people began to think of migration," she added.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjYzNDA1NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwOTY4Mjg5N30.rNkM1f3LWIXTjQFcA4-ZT-_aMGpLFx0oMpSSo_QkNbo/img.jpg?width=980" id="57879" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="284cd1b1c6b264b9f40dbae18d528f7f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
(L) A view of the barren mountain in 1996 and (R) a restored landscape as seen in 2006. Mongabay India
Long Walk for Firewood
<p>Another major problem that villagers, especially the women faced was the near absence of firewood as there were hardly any trees, "We had to walk for three to four kilometres for firewood and the entire day was lost in the travel. It was also risky and cumbersome for the women to walk for such a long distance carrying the firewood on their heads. Besides, some couldn't afford the money required to buy firewood for fuel," said another villager.</p><p>Villagers realized that turning the mountain green could save them from the torment of inclement weather coupled with water shortage issues. But it was easier said than done as the mountain spread across 376 acres of land and required extensive labour and funds for plantations.</p><p>An NGO involved in nature <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" rel="noopener noreferrer">conservation</a> came to their rescue. The <u><a href="http://www.tsrd.org/" target="_blank">Tagore Society For Rural Development</a></u> (TSRD), a non-profit engaged in rural work, agreed to do the plantation work on the entire stretch while the community was given the responsibility of maintaining and protecting the green cover. </p><p>"A group of villagers contacted us and told about the problems they were facing. We were overwhelmed by their passion to grow a forest. We then decided to do the plantation," said Prahalad Chandra Mahato, 70, senior employee of the NGO.</p><p>Subsequently, in 1999, a village committee involving 60 members of Jharbagda village of Manbazar-1 block was formed for plantation at a community land of around 300 acres.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjYzNDA1Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5OTk1MDExM30.Vj6WT9OiMU3jVqI4zb-DCPJY9qXEjmiRaufIRTd0-c4/img.jpg?width=980" id="01077" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dadebea5768c9346fa9800b45e177704" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Committee members representing the villages for plantation on the barren mountain. Gurvinder Singh / Mongabay India
<p>Another 67 acres of land was added in 2001 when four villages — Kumardih, Birsinghdih, Cheliama, Radhamadhobpur — also joined hands. Committee members went up to 90. Villagers named it Makino Raghunath Mountain in memory of two environment enthusiasts, Saiji Makino, a Japanese professor who taught at Visvabharati University at Bolpur Shantiniketan and was involved in creating awareness about plantation among the locals and Raghunath Mahanty, a well-known local resident.</p><p>Under a Japanese government-supported greening initiative, the plantations began in 1999 and continued till 2002. "During the course of three years, over 3.26 lakh (326,000) trees of 72 varieties including fruits, medical herbs and timber wood were planted in the mountain stretch and the adjoining land. Labourers were employed for plantation but villagers also worked voluntarily as they were passionate and wanted to mitigate the crisis," added Mahato.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjYzNDA1OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMTA1MjIyM30.zw1K3u3Qc44T4UD-C3dmwbFXt351xQjt89QHgBKb_VI/img.jpg?width=980" id="fa767" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b018ed6bc7a5f0b8060f330619b21d35" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Villagers can now collect dry leaves for fuel from the forest on the Makino Raghunath Mountain. Earlier, they would have to walk long distances to get firewood. Gurvinder Singh / Mongabay India
The Stretch Turned Green Within a Few Years
<p>Within a span of a few years, the landscape, starting with five villages started changing. "The first visible sign was the easy availability of firewood for fuel. The dried leaves that fell from the trees were collected by us and used as fuel. It not only saved us from the ordeal of walking for several kilometers but also reduced our expenditure on buying wood for fuel. It encouraged us to protect the forest and shoo out anyone trying to destroy it," said Kalyani Mahanty, 40, a homemaker in Jharbagda.</p><p>The forest also led to an increase in the groundwater level and brought down the constant quarrels among villagers, "The groundwater level that had depleted to 40-50 feet (and went down even more in summers) became normal and was available at 15-20 ft. The easy availability of water brought peace to the village," she added.</p><p>The dense green cover also ensured the presence of biodiversity and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/elephants" target="_self">elephants</a> began to traverse the forest that was once barren, "We first noticed the movement of elephants in 2005. There was a sense of jubilation among villagers. There were also constant sighting of snakes and other animals. Birds are now regular here," said Bikash Mahanty, 40, who resides at the neighbouring Radhamodhobpur village.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjYzNjUzNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMTI0OTUxOX0.S9eG2GAmbVZI6yhmzwCPauTUEIvlfSCae47Lrt0O2cQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="8554a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f3bc72b3aba749959342680b81c62168" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />The Makino Raghunath Mountain, a once-barren mountain where plantation took place between 1999 and 2002, restoring its greenery. Mongabay India
<p><br></p><p>The dense trees have also brought down the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/mercury" rel="noopener noreferrer">mercury</a> level in villages and have made the air cooler during summers, "It is comparatively cooler due to the presence of trees. We often sit under the shade of trees during summers and even spend our evenings here. The trees have also prevented soil erosion and farming is not getting hampered due to the mud carried by the rainwater from the mountains," he added.</p><p>Villagers have repeatedly turned down the requests to turn the forest into a picnic spot. "The tourism would no doubt help in promoting the place and also open new avenues of employment but it would do more harm by destroying the environment. Tourists will ignore all norms and use of plastic and other items would destroy its natural beauty. We have ignored the repeated plea to turn this into a tourist spot," said Dwija Pada Mahanty, former village head of Manbazar gram panchayat.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c5aa6de16cbc8253b6ae4e1082e1ebe8"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kkVdJR2pLA8?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
Trenches Being Dug to Store Rainwater
<p>The state government in collaboration with TSRD is now digging trenches down the mountain to stop the wastage of rainwater and to make the soil nutritious, "The water in the trenches would make the soil nutritious while the overflowing water would be stored in a nearby pond and used for farming. It would also recharge the groundwater," said Badal Maharana, 43, team leader, <u><a href="https://usharmukti.nregawb.in/" target="_blank">Ushar Mukti</a></u> project, TSRD Purulia Unit.</p><p>He further said that around 1.5 feet deep trenches have been dug up in 50 hectares of land after the start of the work last year.</p><p>"The trenches would certainly help in storing the rainwater and would be used for multiple purposes. We are also trying to make it an animal corridor to facilitate their movement but the presence of habitation near the forest is a hurdle to the plan. The efforts of the villagers stand as a classic example of how environment conservation is vital for the survival of every individual," said Niladri Sarkar, Block Development Officer (BDO), Manbazar-1 block in Purulia district.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjYzNDA2NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NTYwNDg5NX0.H_elNTErtxSE5y_j_8ATWT6x72fppFDmnTzGgEQQp9A/img.jpg?width=980" id="2e943" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d8953097e3227af62caf8b1d5aa4fdc0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />The overflowing water from trenches would flow into the nearby pond and would be used for farming. Gurvinder Singh / Mongabay India
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A Call to Action as Planet's Essential Groundwater Is Being Rapidly Depleted
30 December 2019
Popular
A photo of a drought. dasroofless / Flickr / License
Nearly 1,100 scientists, practitioners and experts in groundwater and related fields from 92 countries have called on the governments and non-governmental organizations to "act now" to ensure global groundwater sustainability.
<p>In their '<a href="https://www.groundwaterstatement.org/" target="_blank">Call To Action</a>', the group said:</p><p>"Groundwater, the invisible water beneath our feet, represents 99 percent of Earth's liquid freshwater, making it critical for supplying <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water">drinking water</a>, ensuring food security, adapting to climate variability, supporting biodiversity, sustaining surface water bodies and meeting the UN's Sustainable Development Goals."</p><ul> <li><strong>Action Item 1</strong>: Put the spotlight on global groundwater sustainability by completing a UN World Water Development Report, planning a global groundwater summit and recognizing the global importance of groundwater in the UN's Sustainable Development Goals by 2022.</li><li><strong>Action item 2</strong>: Manage and govern groundwater sustainability from local to global scales by applying a guiding principle of groundwater sustainability by 2030.</li><li><strong>Action item 3</strong>: Invest in groundwater governance and management by implementing groundwater sustainability plans for stressed aquifers by 2030.</li></ul><p style="margin-left: 20px;">Groundwater is the drinking water source for more than <a href="http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/19395/" target="_blank">two billion people</a>, and provides more than 40 percent of the <a href="https://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/14/1863/2010/hess-14-1863-2010.html" target="_blank">water for irrigated agriculture worldwide.</a></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;"><a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/groundwater">Groundwater</a> use has impacted environmentally critical streamflow in more than 15 percent of streams globally, and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1594-4" target="_blank">could impact the majority of streams by 2050</a>.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">Around 1.7 billion people live above <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquifer" target="_blank">aquifers </a>(geologic formations that provide groundwater) that are <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11295" target="_blank">stressed by overuse</a>.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">Poor groundwater quality <a href="https://upgro.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/groundwater-and-poverty-report_0004.pdf" target="_blank">disproportionately hits poor people</a> with access to insecure drinking water sources - often unprotected shallow groundwater resources.</p><div></div>
<p>Abhijit Mukherjee, who is a part of the global scientist group and an Associate professor at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur <a href="http://www.ptinews.com/news/11097414_Over-1-000-experts-call-for-global-action-on--depleting--groundwater.html" target="_blank">told</a> the Press Trust of India "we, in India, are abstracting the largest volume of groundwater in human history and are rapidly depleting a relatively non-renewable natural resource that is essential for our survival."</p><p><em>Common Dreams</em> has previously <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/01/22/new-study-shows-climate-crisis-could-mean-time-bomb-worlds-groundwater" target="_blank">reported</a> on a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0386-4#ref-CR2" target="_blank">recent study</a> that sheds light on how the climate crisis is a "time bomb" for the world's groundwater reserves.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">In contrast to surface water, groundwater is stored beneath the ground's surface, held in porous rock, sand, and soil. That water seeps out, or "discharges," into waterways. The groundwater is also replenished in what is called "recharge" when precipitation falls. As such, a balance is created. But events like drought or extreme downpours—features of a warming planet—have an impact on restoring that balance.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">Assessing groundwater model results along with hydrologic data sets, the team of researchers behind the new study found very differing timescales for how groundwater is going to respond to climate change, with groundwater in wetter areas expected to experience a far shorter response time than reserves in more arid areas.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Our research shows that groundwater systems take a lot longer to respond to climate change than surface water, with only half of the world's groundwater flows responding fully within 'human' timescales of 100 years," said lead author Mark Cuthbert of Cardiff University's School of Earth and Ocean Sciences and Water Research Institute in a <a href="https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/1421604-warning-for-worlds-groundwater-reserves" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">While some regions could bounce back in less than 10 years, including parts of central Africa and the U.S. Midwest, other areas—including Australia, the Sahara region, and parts of the central U.S.—were shown to have response times of thousands of years.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"This means that in many parts of the world," Cuthbert continued, "changes in groundwater flows due to climate change could have a very long legacy. This could be described as an environmental time bomb because any climate change impacts on recharge occurring now, will only fully impact the baseflow to rivers and wetlands a long time later."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/29/call-action-planets-essential-groundwater-being-rapidly-depleted#" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>. </em></p>From Your Site Articles
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker speaking with attendees at the 2019 California Democratic Party State Convention at the George R. Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California on June 1. Gage Skidmore / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
New Jersey senator and presidential hopeful Cory Booker put forth the Farm System Reform Act of 2019, in recognition of the environmental impact of industrial agriculture, which would put a stop to any new factory farms, as The Hill reported.
<p>The bill will reform the agriculture system by breaking up monopolistic practices in the industry and holding large corporate farms accountable for the environmental impacts of their practices, according to <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/474685-booker-proposes-moratorium-on-expanding-large-factory-farms" target="_blank">The Hill</a>.</p>
<p>The proposal takes particular aim at <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/factory-farming" rel="noopener noreferrer">factory farms</a>, or concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), which are notorious for their detrimental environmental impacts, as well as the inhumane treatment of animals. Not only would the bill ban any new CAFOs, but it requires phasing existing ones out by 2040, according to the <a href="https://whistleblower.org/blog/senate-bill-to-overhaul-concentrated-animal-feeding-operations/" target="_blank">Government Accountability Project</a>. The bill will allocate $100 billion over a decade to entice farmers who want to transition out of running CAFOs.</p>
<p>CAFOs are known to generate an enormous amount of manure and waste, which frequently contaminates nearby <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/groundwater" rel="noopener noreferrer">groundwater</a>. They are also known to give farmers little freedom to change since farmers are often handcuffed by binding contracts with large corporations. The Department of Agriculture defines a CAFO as having 1,000 cattle, 700 dairy cows, 2,500 pigs, 125,000 chickens or 82,000 laying hens, as <a href="https://modernfarmer.com/2019/12/cory-booker-announces-legislation-to-scale-back-factory-farms/" target="_blank">Modern Farmer</a> reported. </p>
<p>Sen. Cory Booker's proposal aims to hold corporations responsible for pollution and other harm caused by their factory farm suppliers, even though the factory farms are independently owned and in a contract with the large corporations, according to <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/474685-booker-proposes-moratorium-on-expanding-large-factory-farms" target="_blank">The Hill</a>.</p>
<p>"Our independent family farmers and ranchers are continuing to be squeezed by large, multinational corporations that, because of their buying power and size, run roughshod over the marketplace. We need to fix the broken system – that means protecting family farmers and ranchers and holding corporate integrators responsible for the harm they are causing," said Booker, in a <a href="https://www.booker.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=1036" target="_blank">statement</a> put out by his office. "Large factory farms are harmful to rural communities, public health, and the environment and we must immediately begin to transition to a more sustainable and humane system."</p>
<p>Booker's <a href="https://www.booker.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=1036" target="_blank">statement</a> cited data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention that found large CAFOs produce as much as 1.4 billion tons of waste each year, but don't need to maintain a waste treatment facility. Their steady dramatic increase in numbers recently put rural communities at risk of severe environmental hazards and threatens the viability of family farms.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the crowded conditions of livestock means antibiotics have been overused, leading to the spread of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/antibiotic-resistance" rel="noopener noreferrer">antibiotic resistant bacteria</a>. That phenomenon pushed the American Public Health Association to urge federal, state and local governments as well as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" rel="noopener noreferrer">public health</a> agencies to impose a moratorium on all new and expanding CAFOs last month, according to Booker's <a href="https://www.booker.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=1036" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p>
<p>"Senator Booker's Farm System Reform Act pushes back on the concentration of animal production and the devastating impact that has had on our rural communities," said Randy Dugger, Indiana Farmers Union Vice President, in a <a href="https://www.booker.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=1036" target="_blank">statement</a>. "Independent family farmers deserve an opportunity to be prosperous again. By providing fairness and transparency in the market, along with a significant investment to help those trapped in a broken system to get out, this bill can make a huge difference."</p>
<p>The bill also calls for restoring country-of-origin labeling for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/beef" rel="noopener noreferrer">beef</a> and pork and expand to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dairy" rel="noopener noreferrer">dairy</a> products. It would tighten labeling regulations so consumers know where meat was grown, slaughtered and processed, which would stop the Department of Agriculture from labeling imported meat as "Product of USA." Currently, meat grown, slaughtered and processed in Brazil, but packaged in the USA can be labeled as Product of USA, as <a href="https://modernfarmer.com/2019/12/cory-booker-announces-legislation-to-scale-back-factory-farms/" target="_blank">Modern Farmer</a> reported. </p>
<p>"I have seen first-hand how hard it is to challenge the multinational corporations who control the meat industry," said Mike Callicrate, a Kansas rancher in a <a href="https://www.booker.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=1036" target="_blank">press release</a>. "Farmers and ranchers need a marketplace that compensates them fairly and Senator Booker's Farm System Reform Act is a big step in the right direction. Things like country of origin labeling on meat, updates to the Packers and Stockyards Act, and resources to get folks out of a system that is bankrupting them will make a big difference."</p>
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Groundwater Running Out Is Leading to Unsustainable Practice of Digging Deeper Wells
24 July 2019
Popular
Well water is pumped from the ground on April 24, 2015 in Tulare, California. Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Drill, baby, drill! It's what Americans are doing to find potable water.
New research has found that Americans are digging deeper and deeper wells to meet our water demands, which is not a sustainable practice for our water supply needs, according to a study that is the first national assessment of U.S. groundwater wells.
<p>Nearly 120 million Americans rely on underground aquifers for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" rel="noopener noreferrer">drinking water</a>, for irrigating nearly half of the nation's crops, and for use in manufacturing. But, we have been using up that water much faster than it can be replenished, which has America running headlong into a water crisis, as <a href="https://psmag.com/environment/groundwater-depletion-may-cause-domestic-wells-to-dry-out" target="_blank">Pacific Standard</a> reported. </p>
<p><br>Nearly 1,000 of California's community water systems are at high risk of failing to provide potable drinking water. America's aging infrastructure is in desperate need of repair, including the country's drinking water systems, which the American Society of Civil Engineers <a href="https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/cat-item/drinking_water/" target="_blank">gave a D rating</a> in its 2017 report, according to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/24/us/the-crisis-lurking-in-californians-taps-how-1000-water-systems-may-be-at-risk.html?action=click&module=Top%2520Stories&pgtype=Homepage" target="_blank">New York Times</a>.</p><p>Water levels are dropping for large populations and farming regions, including California's fertile Central Valley and the High Plains region atop the vast Ogallala aquifer, which underlies 111.8 million acres in parts of eight states from South Dakota to Texas, as <a href="https://www.sciencenews.org/article/us-wells-are-pumping-groundwater-increasing-depths" target="_blank">Science News</a> reported. The Ogalla aquifer is particularly frightening — a 2017 <a href="https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/sir20175040" target="_blank">report</a> by the U.S. Geological Survey noted that its water levels had dropped by nearly 16 feet from 1950 to 2015.</p><p>The new <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0325-z" target="_blank">study</a>, published in the journal Nature Sustainability, analyzed 65 years of well depth trends to gain new insights into the management of the critical resource.</p><p>"We actually don't know that much about how much groundwater is being used and where groundwater wells are located," said <a href="https://www.es.ucsb.edu/people/debra-perrone" target="_blank">Debra Perrone</a>, an assistant professor at the University of California–Santa Barbara, and lead author on the new study, as <a href="https://psmag.com/environment/groundwater-depletion-may-cause-domestic-wells-to-dry-out" target="_blank">Pacific Standard</a> reported. "Groundwater is often referred to as an invisible resource. Groundwater wells are small, they're distributed, they're often lost among the landscape."</p>
<p>The research team realized that the number and depth of those wells could provide critical insights for water managers on the state of the underground reservoirs, but no central database existed. So, the research team started to build one by compiling constructing data and looking at well depth trends across the country. In the end, their research focused on five mega-aquifer systems that deliver water to densely populated regions, agricultural hubs, or areas with heavy industrial activities.</p><p>The data showed that across the country, groundwater users are drilling wells deeper and deeper across 70 percent of the country. But for the areas where wells haven't gotten deeper, the wells might soon run dry, according to <a href="https://psmag.com/environment/groundwater-depletion-may-cause-domestic-wells-to-dry-out" target="_blank">Pacific Standard</a> .</p><p>"Drilling deeper is not a sustainable, long-term solution," said Perrone, as <a href="https://psmag.com/environment/groundwater-depletion-may-cause-domestic-wells-to-dry-out" target="_blank">Pacific Standard</a> reported. "It's more of a stopgap solution."</p><p>Drilling also creates water access inequalities as poorer areas struggle to pay for the costs associated with deeper wells and water treatment. It's expensive to sink a deeper well and energy intensive to pump the water out. Deeper wells can also tap into brackish water, which may be too salty for irrigation or drinking. That requires extensive desalination and filtering, according to <a href="https://www.sciencenews.org/article/us-wells-are-pumping-groundwater-increasing-depths" target="_blank">Science News</a>.</p><p>The researchers hope their data will inform policy to "improve the way that we govern our groundwater resources," said Perrone to Pacific Standard. "So we know people are going deeper. And let's make sure that we protect the quality of that deep groundwater."</p><p>That brackish water deep in the aquifers is not protected right now. Even though we may need to use those deep stores of water one day, right now the fossil fuel industry injects chemical-tainted water that comes out of oil and gas wells into aquifers considered too salty to use.</p>
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By the Numbers
5: Priority recommendations that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has implemented since March 2018. Those actions relate to chemical standards, nonpoint water pollution and water pollution assessment. There are, however, 14 priority recommendations that the agency has not acted on. (Government Accountability Office)
<h2>News Briefs</h2><p><strong>PFAS Groundwater Cleanup Standards<br></strong></p><p>The EPA published <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2019-04/documents/draft_interim_recommendations_for_addressing_groundwater_contaminated_with_pfoa_and_pfos_public_comment_draft_4-24-19.508post.pdf" target="_blank">draft guidance</a> for responding to groundwater contamination from toxic PFAS <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chemicals">chemicals</a>.</p><p>The guidance covers the two most-studied of the thousands of PFAS compounds: PFOA and PFOS. It sets contamination levels that would trigger additional investigation and establishes goals for groundwater cleanup.</p><p>The cleanup goals are based on the EPA's health advisory of 70 parts per trillion. The EPA "expects" that parties responsible for the contamination will address PFOA and PFOS levels above that. This applies in states that do not have their own cleanup standards, which can be more strict.</p><p>However, stricter state standards are no guarantee of action. The Air Force has <a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/01/air-force-refuses-to-follow-michigan-pfas-law.html" target="_blank">claimed sovereign immunity</a> from Michigan's 12 parts per trillion limit where groundwater discharges to surface water.</p><p>Public comments are being accepted for 45 days after publication in the Federal Register.</p><p><strong>PFAS Cleanup Request</strong></p><p>A Republican senator and two Democratic colleagues asked a watchdog agency to investigate the government's response to PFAS contamination.<br></p><p>In <a href="https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2019-04-25%20GCP%20RJ%20Sen.%20Carper%20Letter%20on%20Requesting%20PFAS%20Studies%20from%20GAO.pdf" target="_blank">a letter</a>, Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE), Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Gary Peters (D-MI) requested that the Government Accountability Office answer a number of questions, among them:</p><ul><li>The estimated cost to the federal government of cleaning up PFAS contamination in water supplies where the government is the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" target="_self">drinking water</a> provider</li><li>Actions that agencies have taken to reduce the federal government's financial liability</li><li>Research that is needed to understand human health effects</li><li>Progress the Defense Department has made in finding non-toxic alternatives for firefighting foam, which is a source of contamination</li></ul><p><strong>Hydropower Licensing Change</strong></p><p>Federal energy regulators <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2019-08239" target="_blank">finalized rules</a> that will quicken the permitting process for certain new <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hydropower" target="_self">hydropower</a> projects.</p><p>Final decisions for projects will be issued no more than two years after a completed application is submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The new rules apply to existing <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dams" target="_self">dams</a> that do not currently generate power and to pumped storage projects.</p><p>The change was ordered by Congress last year.</p><p><em>In context: <a href="https://www.circleofblue.org/2016/water-energy/u-s-hydropower-grows-going-small/" target="_blank">U.S. Hydropower Grows By Going Small</a></em></p>
<h2>Studies and Reports</h2><p><strong>California Hydraulic Fracturing Review<br></strong></p><p>The Bureau of Land Management released a supplemental review of hydraulic fracturing, or <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fracking/" target="_self">fracking</a>, in California.</p><p>The assessment was ordered by a U.S. district court, which said that the BLM needed to do more analysis on the environmental effects of fracking before updating the region's resource management plan. The plan, published in 2014, covers five counties in the southern Central Valley and three counties — San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura — on the coast. It was challenged by Center for Biological Diversity and Los Padres ForestWatch.</p><p>In its <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/projects/nepa/100601/171488/208501/Bakersfield_Field_Office_Hydraulic_Fracturing_Draft_Supplemental_EIS.pdf" target="_blank">supplemental review</a>, the BLM determined that amending the plan is "not warranted." The limited amount of hydraulic fracturing expected to occur in the region "did not show a notable increase in total impacts," according to the BLM, which said that effects on surface water, groundwater use and groundwater quality from disposal of fracking waste are "negligible." Up to 40 fracked wells over 10 years are expected, according to the review.</p><p>Fracking is infrequently used in California. Annual water use for fracking in the state amounts to several hundred acre-feet, according to state officials.</p><p><strong>Financial Cost of Climate Change</strong></p><p>Democrats on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs released <a href="https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Climate%20Change%20Adaptation%20Report%20v12%20Final_COVER_FINAL.pdf" target="_blank">released a report</a> on the financial costs of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" target="_self">climate change</a>. Most of the report is sourced from previous work by federal agencies, but it also recommends that the federal government be more rigorous in detailing its climate-related spending.</p><p>Sen. Gary Peters, the committee's top Democrat, convened a <a href="https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/media/minority-media/peters-to-hold-field-summit-in-east-lansing-examining-rising-costs-of-climate-change-to-taxpayers" target="_blank">field hearing</a> on April 22 in East Lansing, Michigan, that covered some of the issues in the report.</p><p><strong>PFAS Health Study</strong></p><p>A federal health research agency <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2019-08150" target="_blank">published more information</a> about the structure of a study on the human health effects of PFAS compounds.</p><p>The Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry will select six sites for the study and standardize research protocols so that results can be compared across sites.</p>
<h2>On the Radar</h2><p><strong>Committee Hearings</strong></p><p><span></span>After spring break, Congress is back with a full slate of hearings:</p><ul><li>On April 29, the House Rules Committee will discuss the <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-116hr9rh/pdf/BILLS-116hr9rh.pdf" target="_blank">Climate Action Now Act</a>, which requires the president to develop a plan for meeting the U.S. commitment to the Paris climate agreement.</li><li>On April 30, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform looks at the <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/legislation/hearings/climate-change-part-ii-the-public-health-effects" target="_blank">public health effects of climate change</a>.</li><li>On May 1, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee holds a hearing on the <a href="https://www.foreign.senate.gov/hearings/the-humanitarian-impact-of-eight-years-of-war-in-syria" target="_blank">humanitarian consequences of the war in Syria</a>. There are two scheduled witnesses: David Miliband, the president of the International Rescue Committee, and Ben Stiller, the actor best known for his comedy roles who is also a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Refugee Agency.</li></ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Top 10 Most Contaminated Groundwater Sites Revealed in First Major Coal Ash Pollution Study <a href="https://t.co/fIxbOvUcUL">https://t.co/fIxbOvUcUL</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KeepItInTheGround?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KeepItInTheGround</a></p>— Enviro Voter Project (@Enviro_Voter) <a href="https://twitter.com/Enviro_Voter/status/1102585767984021504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em><a href="https://www.circleofblue.org/water-tap/" target="_blank">Federal Water Tap</a> is a weekly digest spotting trends in U.S. government water policy. To get more water news, <a href="http://twitter.com/circleofblue" target="_blank">follow</a> Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our <a href="https://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/contact/weekly-newsletter-sign-up/" target="_blank">newsletter</a>.</em><span></span></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.circleofblue.org/2019/federal-water-tap/federal-water-tap-april-29-epa-releases-draft-pfas-groundwater-cleanup-guidance/" target="_blank">Circle of Blue</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Top 10 Most Contaminated Groundwater Sites Revealed in First Major Coal Ash Pollution Study
04 March 2019
Energy
The San Miguel Power Plant, the groundwater beneath a family ranch is contaminated with at least 12 pollutants leaking from coal ash dumps at concentrations more than 100 times above safe levels. Ari Phillips, Environmental Integrity Project
An examination of monitoring data available for the first time concludes that 91 percent of U.S. coal-fired power plants with monitoring data are contaminating groundwater with unsafe levels of toxic pollutants.
The study by the Environmental Integrity Project, with assistance from Earthjustice, used industry data that became available to the public for the first time in 2018 because of requirements in federal coal ash regulations issued in 2015.
<p>The report found that found that the groundwater near 242 of the 265 power plants with monitoring data contained unsafe levels of one or more of the pollutants in coal ash, including arsenic, a known carcinogen, and lithium, which is associated with neurological damage, among other pollutants.</p><p>"At a time when the Trump <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa">EPA</a> — now being <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/andrew-wheeler-epa-confirmed-2630358470.html">run by a former coal lobbyist</a> — is trying to roll back federal regulations on coal ash, these new data provide convincing evidence that we should be moving in the opposite direction: toward stronger protections for human health and the environment," said Abel Russ, the lead author of the report and attorney with the <a href="http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/" target="_blank">Environmental Integrity Project</a> (EIP).</p><p><strong>"</strong>This is a wake-up call for the nation," said Lisa Evans, senior counsel with <a href="https://earthjustice.org" target="_blank">Earthjustice</a>. "Using industry's own data, our report proves that coal plants are poisoning groundwater nearly everywhere they operate. The <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> Administration insists on hurting communities across the U.S. by gutting federal protections. They are making a dire situation much worse."</p><p>The data came from more than 4,600 groundwater monitoring wells located around the ash dumps of 265 coal-fired power plants, which is roughly three quarters of the coal power plants across the U.S. The rest of the plants did not have to comply with the federal Coal Ash Rule's groundwater monitoring requirements last year, either because they closed their ash dumps before the rule went into effect in 2015, or because they were eligible for an extension.</p><p>EIP's analysis of the data found that a majority of the 265 coal plants have unsafe levels of at least four toxic constituents of coal ash in the underlying groundwater. Fifty-two percent had unsafe levels of arsenic, which can impair the brains of developing children and is known to cause cancer. Sixty percent of the plants have unsafe levels of lithium, a chemical associated with multiple health risks, including neurological damage.<br></p><p>Many of the coal ash waste ponds are poorly and unsafely designed, with less than 5 percent having waterproof liners to prevent contaminants from leaking into the groundwater, and 59 percent built beneath the water table or within five feet of it.</p><p>The report lists and ranks the sites across the U.S. with the worst groundwater contamination from coal ash. Below are the "Top 10" most contaminated sites, according to the monitoring data reported by power companies in 2018:</p><ol class="ee-ol"><li><strong>Texas</strong>: An hour south of San Antonio, beside the San Miguel Power Plant, the groundwater beneath a family ranch is contaminated with at least 12 pollutants leaking from coal ash dumps, including cadmium (a probable carcinogen according to EPA) and lithium (which can cause nerve damage) at concentrations more than 100 times above safe levels.</li><li><strong>North Carolina</strong>: 12 miles west of Charlotte, at Duke Energy's Allen Steam Station in Belmont, the coal ash dumps were built beneath the water table and are leaking cobalt (which causes thyroid damage) into groundwater at concentrations more than 500 times above safe levels, along with unsafe levels of eight other pollutants.</li><li><strong>Wyoming</strong>: 180 miles west of Laramie, at PacifiCorp's Jim Bridger power plant in Point of Rocks, the groundwater has levels of lithium and selenium (which can be toxic to humans and lethal at low concentrations to fish) that exceed safe levels by more than 100 fold.</li><li><strong>Wyoming</strong>: At the Naughton power plant in southwest Wyoming, the groundwater has not only levels of lithium and selenium exceeding safe levels by more than 100 fold, but also arsenic at five times safe levels.</li><li><strong>Pennsylvania</strong>: An hour northwest of Pittsburgh, at the New Castle Generating Station, levels of arsenic in the groundwater near the plant's coal ash dump are at 372 times safe levels for drinking.</li><li><strong>Tennessee</strong>: Just southwest of Memphis near the Mississippi River, at the TVA Allen Fossil Plant, arsenic has leaked into the groundwater at 350 times safe levels and lead at four times safe levels. Recent studies show a direct connection between the contaminated shallow aquifer and the deeper Memphis aquifer, creating a threat to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water">drinking water</a> for thousands of people.</li><li><strong>Maryland</strong>: 19 miles southeast of Washington, DC, at the Brandywine landfill in Prince George's County, ash from three NRG coal plants has contaminated groundwater with unsafe levels of at least eight pollutants, including lithium at more than 200 times above safe levels, and molybdenum (which can damage the kidney and liver) at more than 100 times higher than safe levels. The contaminated groundwater at this site is now feeding into and polluting local streams.</li><li><strong>Utah</strong>: South of Salt Lake City, at the Hunter Power plant, the groundwater is contaminated with lithium at concentrations 228 times safe levels and cobalt at 26 times safe levels.</li><li><strong>Mississippi</strong>: North of Biloxi, at the R.D. Morrow Sr. Generating Station, the groundwater is contaminated with lithium at 193 times safe levels, molybdenum at 171 times safe levels, and arsenic at three times safe levels.</li><li><strong>Kentucky</strong>: At the Ghent Generating Station northeast of Louisville, lithium is in the groundwater at 154 times safe levels and radium at 31 times safe levels.</li></ol><p>The researchers of this report could not determine the safety of drinking water near the coal ash dumps analyzed in this study because power companies are not required to test private drinking water wells.</p><p>However, the report contains examples of several well-documented instances of residential tap water contaminated by coal ash. For example:</p><ul class="ee-ul"><li>At the Colstrip Power Plant in Colstrip, Montana, unsafe levels of boron, sulfate and possibly other pollutants migrated into a residential neighborhood. The owners of the plant had to provide clean water, and settled a lawsuit with 57 local residents for $25 million in damages.</li><li>At the Oak Creek Power Plant in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, contamination with elevated levels of molybdenum seeped from ash landfills into at least 33 nearby drinking water wells. Wisconsin Energy purchased at least 25 homes around the site and demolished several of them.</li><li>At the Yorktown Power Station in Yorktown, Virginia, gravel pits were filled with fly ash, contaminating the water supply for 55 homes with arsenic, beryllium, chromium, manganese, selenium and other pollutants.</li><li>At Battlefield Golf Course in Chesapeake, Virginia, about 25 drinking water wells had elevated levels of boron, manganese or thallium that may have leaked from coal ash used as a construction material beneath a golf course.</li><li>At a coal ash landfill in Gambrills, Maryland, ash dumped in an old sand and gravel quarry caused unsafe levels of arsenic, beryllium, lithium and other pollutants in multiple residential wells. Constellation Energy settled a lawsuit with impacted residents for $54 million.</li></ul><p>Additional examples of contamination of residential drinking water outlined in the report are in Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin and North Carolina.</p><p>"This report is yet another example of why we must require full cleanup of these unlined and leaking coal ash pits," said Amy Brown, a resident of Belmont, North Carolina, who lives near coal ash waste sites of the Duke Energy Allen Steam Station.</p><p>"The findings of this report are disturbing, but unfortunately not surprising," said Jennifer Peters, National Water Programs Director for Clean Water Action. "For decades, coal utilities have been dumping their toxic waste in primitive pits — often unlined, unstable and near groundwater — while state and federal regulators have mostly looked the other way. These dangerous coal ash ponds should have been closed and cleaned up years ago."</p><p>The report details steps that EPA should take to more effectively protect public health and the environment from coal ash pollution. A more successful regulatory program would: regulate all coal ash dumps, including those that are inactive; require the excavation of dumps within five feet of the water table; require more monitoring, especially of nearby residential wells and surface water; and mandate more transparency and public reporting.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="76c9f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="STKKGO1576779556"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1069350656367108098" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">New Report Reveals Severe #Groundwater Contamination at Illinois #CoalAsh Dumps https://t.co/kAM9ixJyRk @BeyondCoal @Coal_Ash</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1069350656367108098">1543788038.0</a></blockquote></div>
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The W. A. Parish Power Plant, owned by NRG Energy, is one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the U.S. Roy Luck / CC BY 2.0
Power plants across Texas are leaching toxins into groundwater, according to new research. A report released this week from the Environmental Integrity Project found that all of the state's 16 coal-fired power plants are leaching contaminants from coal ash into the ground, and almost none of the plants are properly lining their pits to prevent leakage.
<p>"We found contamination everywhere we looked, poisoning groundwater aquifers and recreational fishing spots across the state," EIP attorney and report co-author Abel Russ told the Texas Tribune. "This confirms that dumping large volumes of toxic waste in poorly-lined pits is a terrible idea." </p><p>As reported by the <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/report-power-plants-are-leaking-cancer-causing-toxins-into-groundwater-across-texas/" target="_blank">Texas Observer</a>:</p><blockquote>"While power plants' propensity to foul nearby air is well-documented, the danger of coal ash dumping has seen much less play in the news media.</blockquote><blockquote>...</blockquote><blockquote>Meanwhile, the Trump administration <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/397619-trump-admin-eases-standards-for-coal-ash-disposal" target="_blank" title="Opens in a new window">has loosened</a> coal ash dumping rules, relaxing pollution thresholds for certain contaminants and allowing states to waive some groundwater monitoring requirements. The action fits within the larger trend of Trump and U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/despite-trump-and-rick-perrys-best-efforts-another-coal-plant-eats-the-dust-in-texas/" target="_blank">trying their damndest</a> to prop up coal despite it being a <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/smart-energy-solutions/decrease-coal/ripe-for-retirement-closing-americas-costliest-coal-plants.html#.W7VJ-mhKiUk" target="_blank" title="Opens in a new window">wildly inefficient vehicle</a> for energy generation. At the state level, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) proposed in August a "deeply flawed" plan to regulate coal ash disposal, the report says. The TCEQ plan was later withdrawn.</blockquote><blockquote>Representatives from TCEQ did not respond to a request for comment.</blockquote><blockquote>Many of the plants identified in the report are also major air polluters."</blockquote>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="b20f0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="KG7W081576779638"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1002306253304016896" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Groups Sue Utility Company for Leaking Coal Ash Into National Scenic River https://t.co/cz7GzKj7r1 @BeyondCoal @dirtyenergy @Coal_Ash</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1002306253304016896">1527803407.0</a></blockquote></div>
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<p><strong>For a deeper dive:<br></strong></p><p><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2019/01/17/report-texas-coal-power-plants-leaching-toxic-pollutants-groundwater/" target="_blank">Texas Tribune</a>, <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/report-power-plants-are-leaking-cancer-causing-toxins-into-groundwater-across-texas/" target="_blank">Texas Observer</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/legal-us-usa-texas-coal-pollution/sixteen-coal-ash-pits-contaminating-texas-groundwater-report-idUSKCN1PB2HB" target="_blank">Reuters</a>, <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/texas-coal-ash-polluting-groundwater-f304c328c1cc/" target="_blank">ThinkProgress</a>, <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/study-finds-toxins-leaking-into-texas-groundwater/" target="_blank">Courthouse News</a></p><p> <em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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- New Report Reveals Severe Groundwater Contamination at Illinois ... ›
- Coal Ash Was a Disaster in North Carolina Well Before Hurricane ... ›
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Produced water from gas drilling in the Marcellus shale. Tara Lohan
By Tara Lohan
We're living beyond our means when it comes to groundwater. That's probably not news to everyone, but new research suggests that, deep underground in a number of key aquifers in some parts of the U.S., we may have much less water than previously thought.
"We found that the average depth of water resources across the country was about half of what people had previously estimated," said Jennifer McIntosh, a distinguished scholar and professor of hydrology and atmospheric sciences at the University of Arizona.
<p>McIntosh and her colleagues—who published a <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aae6d8/meta" target="_blank">new study</a> about these aquifers in November in <em>Environmental Research Letters—</em>took a different approach to assessing groundwater than other research, which has <a href="https://grace.jpl.nasa.gov/applications/groundwater/" target="_blank">used satellites</a> to measure changes in groundwater storage. For example, a <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2015WR017349" target="_blank">2015 study</a> looked at 37 major aquifers across the world and found some were being depleted faster than they were being replenished, including in California's agriculturally intensive Central Valley.</p><p>McIntosh says those previous studies revealed a lot about how we're depleting water resources from the top down through extraction, such as pumping for <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/agriculture">agriculture</a> and water supplies, especially in places like California.</p><p>But McIntosh and three other researchers wanted to look at groundwater from a different perspective: They examined how we're using water resources from the bottom up.</p><p>The study may help close the gap about what we know and don't know regarding how much water is available deep underground, as well as its quality.</p><p>It also rings some alarm bells.</p><h2>A Different Approach</h2><p>Instead of examining how fast water tables were falling, as in previous studies, the researchers looked at water chemistry to determine how deep underground you could drill for freshwater or brackish water before that water became too salty to use.</p><p>"We looked at the bottom limit of groundwater resources," said McIntosh.</p><p>The researchers used information from the U.S. Geological Survey on the quality of groundwater across the country and looked specifically at salinity—how salty the water is. "We looked basin by basin at how that depth of fresh and brackish water changes across the United States," said McIntosh.</p><p>The results were about half as much usable water as previous estimates. That means that deep groundwater reserves are not nearly as plentiful as we'd thought in some places.</p><p>That's important because when shallow groundwater reserves become depleted or polluted, the strategy so far has been to drill deeper and deeper wells to keep the water flowing.</p><p>But we may not always be able to drill our way out of water shortages. "Tapping into these deep waters works for now, but the long-term prospects for using these waters are quite concerning," said the report's lead author, <a href="https://www.usask.ca/water/about/profiles/people/grant-ferguson.php" target="_blank">Grant Ferguson</a>, an associate professor in the department of Civil and Geological Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan.</p><p>The problem isn't evenly distributed across the country. While a number of aquifers in the West have deep freshwater reserves, the water in parts of the eastern and central U.S. becomes salty at much shallower depths. "Drilling deeper water wells to address groundwater depletion issues represents no more than a stopgap measure in these areas," the researchers concluded in their paper. One area of particular concern the researchers noted was in the Anadarko and Sedgwick basins underlying parts of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, which has particularly shallow freshwater reserves.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTA4NTMwMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxOTY3NDI1OX0.1hRXCMwTh5LNWxenwTgxkUtSnvsKF4piq2hWCexqGpw/img.jpg?width=980" id="814bf" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1c96c3e74348404bebd73ad293444387" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Depth to water with total dissolved solids (a) <3000 and (b) <10 000 mg l−1 based on median values in 100 m bins. (c) TDS distribution relative to the 50th and 95th percentile of water well depths</small></p><h2>Oil and Water<br></h2><p>The study looked at a total of 28 sedimentary basins across the U.S. that were chosen because they're known to contain oil and gas reserves.</p><p>The researchers found that the oil and gas industry uses fresh and brackish water, both of which are drawn from the bottom up. And that's another element of the research that could raise concern.</p><p>In some cases the industry pumps out brackish water as part of its drilling operations. Industry waste is then injected back underground into deep aquifers. As a result, water reserves are depleted from pumping and possibly contaminated during re-injection, the researchers found.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTA4NTMwMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MTE1MzI1MX0.GzKF-FX4rccOvkqWOdcUe3wSVKPEC38p6G4s8bHmXaQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="884c8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="faf292e10b4f91901e815a3c4c1bd9a1" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Deep groundwater resources can be threatened by oil and gas production or injection wells.</small></p><p>The depth between oil and gas activities and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water">drinking water</a> reserves varied greatly across the country. Wyoming and the Michigan basin were two places where oil and gas activities are relatively shallow and in close proximity to fresh and brackish water, which could increase the chances of contamination of water resources. Water contamination from <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29032016/fracking-study-pavillion-wyoming-drinking-water-contamination-epa" target="_blank">oil and gas activity</a> has already been documented in Pavillion, Wyoming.<br></p><p>The authors suggest that carefully monitoring for potential contamination or overexploitation of water reserves may be crucial in these areas with minimal separation between groundwater and oil and gas wells used for either production or disposal.</p><h2>The Future Is … Saltier </h2><p>While brackish water can be used for some types of agriculture and by oil and gas activities, it hasn't been used much yet for drinking because it requires desalination (although not as intensively as seawater). But as water resources become more constrained, particularly in the arid West where some communities and farms rely exclusively on groundwater, brackish water may be a more valuable future resource and a larger part of the water supply.</p><p>"I think of it in terms of water security. Both fresh and brackish aquifers are part of our potential water source into the future," said McIntosh.</p><p>But further utilizing these deep-water resources will have "all kinds of policy and economic consequences because they aren't going to be replenished as quickly as other waters" closer to the surface, said Ferguson. And that may mean better monitoring of oil and gas activity is needed in those regions, along with a possible rethinking of how we permit and manage drilling into those deep waters. "That would change the nature of how we're using water in a lot of places," he said.</p><p>While this research adds to our growing knowledge of groundwater resources, there is still a lot we don't know about the chemistry of these deep aquifers beyond just salinity, said McIntosh. Addressing that knowledge gap, she said, will be important as we work to match water resources to our varying needs for drinking, industry and agriculture.</p><p>"This 'bottom up' approach is a novel one and will find great utility, but it does depend upon the availability of deep groundwater data," said <a href="https://aquadoc.typepad.com/waterwired/" target="_blank">Michael Campana</a>, a professor and hydrogeologist at Oregon State University who did not participate in the study. And the deeper we go, the less data we have, said Ferguson.</p><p>Both the researchers and outside experts suggest that more research is needed. This is particularly true in areas not associated with oil and gas activity that weren't part of the study, Campana points out. But the authors say their results may still show the need for important changes on policy or behavioral levels regarding how we use our nation's groundwater.</p><p>"There was this idea that deeper groundwater would be more pristine, and it is to a point, but there are all kinds of natural salinity and hydrocarbon problems once you get into deeper and deeper groundwater systems," said Ferguson. "So we're working with that idea that maybe the window of freshwater is not as big as we thought and it's probably getting even smaller in a lot of areas."</p><p>In an age of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate change</a>, that's something that may play out sooner rather than later.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="d7408" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="SCBYAH1576779568"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1058448717865455619" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">An Aquifer From the #IceAge Becomes a Battleground in New Mexico https://t.co/Sco9rnOlqA @greenpeaceusa @Sierra_Magazine</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1058448717865455619">1541188814.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p><em>Tara Lohan is deputy editor of The Revelator.</em><br></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://therevelator.org/shrinking-groundwater/" target="_blank">The Revelator</a>.</em></p>
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New Report Reveals Severe Groundwater Contamination at Illinois Coal Ash Dumps
28 November 2018
Popular
Toxic coal ash waste, the red material in the river bank, from Dynegy's Vermilion Power Plant in Oakwood, Illinois, can be seen leaking into the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River. Prairie Rivers Network
A new report written by Environmental Integrity Project, Earthjustice, Prairie Rivers Network and Sierra Club, revealed widespread pollution of the groundwater surrounding 90 percent of reporting Illinois coal ash dumpsites.
<p>The report is based on industry data made publicly available for the first time this year because of a requirement in federal coal ash regulations. It concludes that 22 of Illinois 24 coal ash dumpsites with available data have released toxic pollutants including arsenic, cobalt and lithium, into groundwater.</p><p>Millions of tons of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/21/us/coal-ash-spill-dam-breach.html" target="_blank">coal ash</a>, generated by the State's coal-fired power plants, has been stored in primarily unlined ponds and landfills near the plants for decades. This toxic byproduct of burning coal continues to flow into groundwater, rivers, and lakes all over the State, <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-illinois-scenic-river-coal-pollution-20180130-story.html" target="_blank">including the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River</a>, Illinois' only National Scenic River. Illinois started the process of regulating coal ash in 2013, but those plans were abandoned, and multiple administrations have allowed the coal ash ponds to operate for years with little or no state or federal oversight.</p><p>In 2015, <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-12/documents/factsheet_ccrfinal_2.pdf" target="_blank">federal coal ash regulations</a> required utilities to start collecting groundwater data near coal ash dumps. In March of 2018, this data became public for the first time. The report analyzes the groundwater monitoring data reported by utilities.</p><p>Coal ash contains a hazardous brew of toxic pollutants including arsenic, boron, cadmium, chromium, lead, radium, selenium and more. The toxics in coal ash can cause cancer, heart disease, reproductive failure and stroke, and can inflict lasting brain damage on children.</p><p>This pollution is not limited to groundwater contamination. According to the most recent Clean Water Act permit applications on file with Illinois EPA, Illinois coal plants dump millions of pounds of pollution into lakes, rivers and streams each year. These pollutants include over 300,000 pounds of aluminum, 600 pounds of arsenic, nearly 300,000 pounds of boron, over 200 pounds of cadmium, over 15,000 pounds of manganese, roughly 1,500 pounds of selenium, roughly 500,000 pounds of nitrogen, and nearly 40 million pounds of sulfate.</p><p>Local groups from all over the state are calling for action from State officials to put protections in place to stop the pollution from coal ash permanently, prevent further dumping or storage of coal ash in the state, and hold polluters accountable for the toxic messes they have created.</p><p>Andrew Rehn, a water resources engineer from Prairie Rivers Network, an advocacy group fighting for healthy rivers and clean water in Illinois said, "Illinois needs to act now to strengthen rules that protect the public from coal ash. We're reaching a turning point as Energy companies are proposing to leave coal ash in floodplains of rivers and exposed to groundwater. We need stronger rules that provide permanent protection with a financial guarantee, and give the public a voice in these decisions" </p><p>"Because utilities were forced to report groundwater monitoring data in the 2015 coal ash rule, we now know the scope and severity of groundwater contamination from coal ash in Illinois," said Earthjustice attorney Jennifer Cassel. "Now that communities can see the evidence of toxic pollution leaking into their precious groundwater resources from these ponds for themselves, they can hold utilities and the State accountable."</p><p>"The contamination from coal ash is going to get worse, and will be a part of the Illinois environment for generations unless the state takes a few simple steps," said Abel Russ, senior attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project. "We now have a baseline – almost all of the coal plants are polluted. Let's hope that we can come back in ten years and see that most of these sites are clean."</p><p>"Illinois cannot afford to stand by while companies dump toxic waste that will threaten our state's valuable water resources indefinitely. There is a moral obligation to ensure that companies clean up the mess they create and lift that burden from impacted communities. Coal ash creates one more barrier to economic development while cleaning it up can create jobs and open the door to future development." Joe Laszlo, Sierra Club Member and Central Illinois Healthy Community Alliance Chairperson </p><p>The report, <em><a href="https://illinoiscoalash.org/read-the-groundwater-report/" target="_blank">Cap and Run: Toxic Coal Ash Left Behind by Big Polluters Threatens Illinois Water</a>, </em>features data released by power companies on their websites earlier this year in response to requirements in a 2015 EPA regulation known as the "coal ash rule." Some of the local examples highlighted in the report include:</p><ul class="ee-ul"> <li>At NRG-subsidiary Midwest Generation's Waukegan Plant, on the shore of Lake Michigan, boron–which can cause developmental problems in children and is toxic to aquatic life – exceeds the Illinois groundwater standard by up to 16 times.</li></ul><ul class="ee-ul"> <li>At Dynegy's retired Vermilion coal plant on the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River–Illinois' only National Scenic River–upstream of the City of Danville, ash-polluted groundwater is visibly seeping through the riverbank into the river and groundwater testing revealed boron at levels more than thirteen times EPA's health threshold.</li></ul><ul class="ee-ul"> <li>At the Lincoln Stone Quarry on the banks of the Des Plaines River in Joliet–into which Midwest Generation dumped coal ash from its now-gas-fueled Joliet coal plants for decades–arsenic exceeds safe levels in groundwater monitoring wells by over twenty-three times and boron is seven times higher than EPA health thresholds.</li></ul><ul class="ee-ul"> <li>At Vistra subsidiary Dynegy's Hennepin coal plant, in the floodplain of the Illinois River downstream of Starved Rock State Park, arsenic and boron are more than three times higher than safe levels, and lithium reaches levels up to twelve times higher than what is safe.</li></ul><ul class="ee-ul"><li>At Dynegy's E.D. Edwards coal plant, located on the Illinois River just south of Peoria, lead concentrations are eighteen times US EPA's drinking water standard.</li></ul>
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Cheryl Walsh Bellville
By Eleanor Bravo
Imagine: a deep, pristine aquifer persists without incident for more than 11,700 years in the Valley of San Augustin. It is revered and left unmarred by the community members who know of its existence, utilizing it respectfully and sustainably, leaving it intact—from the Ice Age until 2008. That is when a New York-based company, Augustin Plains Ranch LLC, owned by an Italian billionaire, decided to set up its operation and apply for a permit to invade the aquifer by extracting 54,000 acre feet of water per year.
<p>
Located in west-central New Mexico, the groundwater present in the aquifer dates back to the latest Ice Age and is fed by no permanent streams. The basin is
<a href="https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/openfile/downloads/0-99/51/ofr_51.pdf" target="_blank">replenished primarily from the intense thundershowers</a> during late summer months. Southern New Mexico generally averages less than 10 inches of rain a year. For more than 10 years, neighbors of the ranch have fought to oppose water mining and potential destruction of the aquifer. With present <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drought">drought</a> conditions and rising temperatures, it's possible that if allowed, this volume of extraction would render the aquifer non-existent.
</p>
<p>
This lengthy battle has united improbable allies: conservative ranchers, indigenous people, small business owners, rural residents and conservationists in a broad coalition of local opposition. Why? New Mexicans get 85 percent of their drinking water from groundwater. Water mining in huge quantities eventually causes a "cone of depression." As water continues to be pumped at an unsustainable rate, the underground flow moves toward the wells that are pumping. As nearby wells begin to dry up, the cone of depression widens, and more and more wells go dry.
</p>
<h4>Where Would the Water Go?</h4>
<p>
Only about 700 people live in the area of the San Augustin Valley. It is a sparse but elegant landscape, also home to the Very Large Array (VLA), a component of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). The VLA comprises 27 independent antennae, 25 meters in diameter each weighing 209 metric tons. It is a multi-purpose instrument designed to allow investigations of astronomical objects. The Association has been one of the parties protesting against Augustin Plains Ranch's permit applications.
</p>
<p>
After many bumps and turns, opponents and proponents of the project awaited yet another ruling by the State Engineer after three applications by the company. This was clearly a last-ditch effort by Augustin Plains Ranch, in hopes that the present administration and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, with their favoritism toward big business, would produce a different outcome.
</p>
<p>
The plan, if approved, called for 17 billion gallons of water per year to be extracted through 37 wells. A
<a href="https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/resources/water/amp/brochures/D2_07_Alex_Rinehart.pdf" target="_blank">geological study</a> concluded that "data used to generate storage estimates, aquifer properties, subsurface geology are sparse, making it difficult to accurately assess impact of the proposed project." This prehistoric underground lake could potentially be drained, leaving residents, livestock and wildlife with no water source and changing the fragile desert ecosystem forever.
</p>
<p>
Where would this extracted water go? That has been a question that has not been definitively answered all these years. According to the company, water pumped from the aquifer would be piped 140 miles to Bernalillo County, which is adjacent to the Rio Grande River, and could be purchased by anyone along the way to supplement water shortages, enhance stream flows and benefit fish and wildlife. But environmentalists do not support stealing water from one area to procure water for the Rio Grande.
</p>
<p>
Rio Rancho, a growing community outside of Albuquerque, was one of the possible destinations. Sandoval County where Rio Rancho is located is presently considering permits for horizontal drilling from oil and gas companies. The Sandoval County Commission is considering zoning the county and making some rural, less densely populated areas available for drilling and protecting other areas in a discriminatory policy that benefits wealthier, more populated areas. Horizontal drilling and subsequent fracking are highly water-consumptive processes, and Rio Rancho public utility water bills have skyrocketed. The possibility that the aquifer's wealth of water is being targeted in order to prop up fracking needs is very real. Agriculture is another potential destination—shoring up the New Mexico chile industry was mentioned as an option.
</p>
<h4>The Billionaire's Bad Luck—For Now</h4>
<p>
Ultimately, the State Engineer denied this third application for permit calling the venture "speculative." The Office of the State Engineer explained their decision: "After carefully considering all aspects of the application, the State Engineer determined that the applicant failed to identify specific quantities of water for specific identified beneficial uses which are requirements under state law for a water right to be developed."
</p>
<p>
Carol Pittman, a resident of the area for 20 years who has led the opposition, rejoiced at the decision, saying: "Rural communities throughout the state can celebrate the denial of the Augustin Plains Ranch LLC's application to mine water in the aquifer of the Plains of San Augustin. Should the application have been approved, every rural community would be vulnerable to the threat of water being moved from a rural area to an urban area, a prospect not even supported by urban areas." As a founding member of the San Augustin Water Coalition, Pittman and other members also regularly traveled to Albuquerque to register their opposition to the proposed Santolina planned community that would have ultimately purchased the San Augustin Plains water.
</p>
<p>
The fight for water has not come to an end, and the decision is facing an appeal, but the proper management of our natural resources has come into question. We cannot bow to the short-sighted demands of private entrepreneurs wanting to make a profit from the commons while compromising fragile ecosystems. The Water Coalition is hopeful that there will be no more applications and that the Plains are finally free to replenish as they have for thousands of years.
</p>
<p>
Food & Water Watch is proud to have assisted the members of the Water Coalition in this long-term struggle. Carol Pittman has become a great friend to us and we appreciate her acknowledgement:
</p>
<blockquote>
"To help save our water resources in the Plains of San Augustin, New Mexico Food and Water Watch provided support to our rural community. Without such help the prospect of our small population winning the battle against an international corporation would have been much more difficult."
</blockquote>
<p>
<em><a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/bio/eleanor-bravo" target="_blank">Eleanor Bravo</a> is Food & Water Watch's National Pipeline Campaign Manager, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. </em><br/>
<span></span>
</p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODc5MDM4MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMDExMjA3OH0.y31sH4FqyHulkrLdtBksdWz9oL21a3HA7GrZkLgZc8A/img.jpg?width=980" id="67aaa" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="85ac0ce9227ef5183f0ac689b41742df" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
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EarthShare
In the U.S., our infrastructure isn’t designed to handle the increased floods and droughts that come with global warming. Consider Florida, where coastal cities are spending billions of dollars on pumps and desalination plants to deal with flooding, or Denver, CO, which had to restrict residential lawn watering to two days a week throughout the spring due to drought.
Clearly, we need to be smarter about our precious water supply in the coming years. Many cities are already getting a jump start on smart water solutions and their work provides models for other places dealing with water challenges.
Bioswales
Bioswales—also known as rain gardens—absorb and filter runoff from nearby pavement. Not only do they keep polluted rainwater from reaching our rivers and lakes, they beautify our cities and prevent flooding.
A bioswale is installed along a new bike trail in Indianapolis, IN.
Porous/Permeable Pavement
Another way to ensure rainwater is filtered before it reaches our waterways is by letting it hit the ground rather than run along the top of pavement. Porous pavement like that pictured above has tiny gaps that allow the water to flow through.
Photo credit: JJ Harrison / Wikimedia Commons
Cisterns/Rain Barrels
About one-third of the clean drinking water in the U.S. is used to water lawns. One way to halt this waste is to encourage the use of cisterns and rain barrels which collect rainwater for things like gardening and flushing toilets. The town of Northfield, MN, rebates its residents 50 percent of the cost of installing such systems. Many other towns in the U.S. have similar programs, and rain barrels are readily available at most home improvement stores.
Solar Water Heaters
Rather than using solar panels to create electricity, solar water heaters use them to heat water. About 30 million homes in China use solar water heaters and many municipalities in the U.S., like Palo Alto, CA, Austin, TX, and Tallahassee, FL, offer rebates to their residents if they install them.
Australian homes with solar hot water heaters. Photo credit: Green MPs/Flickr
Riparian Buffers
Nothing manages water better than nature. Ensuring that our waterways are buffered from development by conserving the vegetation around it keeps them clean, provides vital habitat for plants and animals and guards against flooding. In just one project of its kind, EarthShare member Trust for Public Land helped protect nearly 600 acres of land near the LaPlatte River, which feeds into Lake Champlain. Because of this, the safety of the drinking water supply for 68,000 people is ensured.
Green Roofs
Green roofs have multiple benefits: they reduce the heat island effect in cities, filter air pollution, improve building efficiency and much more. They also reduce the volume of storm water flowing into sewer systems. Chicago, IL, leads the country in green roofs installed.
Photo credit: kcxd/Flickr
Visit EcoWatch’s WATER page for more related news on this topic.
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