Pesticide Use and Levels in Our Streams→

Michael Wines, reporting for the New York Times:

“The study, conducted by the United States Geological Survey and published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, monitored scores of pesticides from 1992 to 2011 at more than 200 sampling points on rivers and streams. In both of the last two decades, researchers reported, they found insecticides and herbicides in virtually all of the waterways...

“It’s very clear in the data that regulatory changes in use do affect what you see in the streams,” said Wes Stone, a hydrologist with the Geological Survey in Indianapolis and the lead researcher on the survey. “It’s showing what you would expect, and that’s good.” Mr. Stone and the study’s other two authors, Robert Gilliom and Karen Ryberg, conducted the research as part of the Geological Survey’s National Water-Quality Assessment Program.”

MinnPost's article on the same study.

USGS's report and data (pdf and xlsx)

Integrated, integrated, integrated, we must learn integrated pest management!

Widely Used Insecticides Are Leaching Into Midwest Rivers→

Maanvi Singh, reporting for NPR:

Dean Bergmann

“A class of insecticides called neonicotinoids, which are used on a lot of big corn and soybean fields, has been getting a pretty bad rap lately.

Researchers have implicated these chemicals, which are similar to nicotine, as a contributor to the alarming decline of bee colonies. That led the European Union to place a moratorium on their use, and environmentalists want the U.S. to do the same.

In a study published July 24, researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey found that these chemicals are also leaching into streams and rivers in the Midwest — including the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. And that may be bad news for aquatic life in the region, the scientists say.”

USGS Study

In a dark place we find ourselves, and a potentially a widely used pesticide may be the cause.

Neonicotinoids In Our Food and Water→

Dave Orrick, reporting for the Pioneer Press:

“Nicotine-related insecticides widely used on crops are finding their way into the food we eat and the water we drink, two national studies published in the past two months have concluded.

A study released this week by the U.S. Geological Survey found neonicotinoids — a relatively new family of insect-killing chemicals exploding in use in the Farm Belt and a leading suspect in the collapse of bee populations — in nine Midwestern rivers, including the Mississippi and Missouri.

Last month, a study by the Harvard School of Public Health found “neonics” in fruits, vegetables and honey purchased from grocery stores.”

In a dark place we find ourselves, and a little more poison kills us slowly.

Mercury Levels in the Environment→

Erik Stokstad, writing for AAAS:

Peter Buckley, Flickr

“The most comprehensive estimate of mercury released into the environment is putting a new spotlight on the potent neurotoxin. By accounting for mercury in consumer products, such as thermostats, and released by industrial processes, the calculations more than double previous tallies of the amount of mercury that has entered the environment since 1850. The analysis also reveals a previously unknown spike in mercury emissions during the 1970s.

The finding doesn’t indicate a greater risk to human health; scientists already know how much mercury most people are exposed to. But it does show how tighter regulations over the past 4 decades have lowered the total amount of mercury emitted to the global environment—even as some industries in the developing world continue to expand.”

When you use mercury, careful you must be. For the mercury poisons back.”

Polluters Don't Pay→

Chad Selweski, reporting for The Macomb Daily:

“Two days after Oakland County officials admitted that they dumped an unprecedented 2.1 billion gallons of partially treated sewage into the Macomb County waterways during the massive Aug. 11 storm, environmental activists on Thursday called for a return to the policing of polluters that was in place several years ago.

These activists warned that drenching rainstorms are becoming more common, and sewage system overflows packed with fertilizers and other “nutrient-rich” discharges will increasingly lead to a Lake St. Clair shoreline plagued by algae, tainted water and seaweed-style aquatic plants dominating the water surface.”

The polluted Red Run Drain in Warren

Once you start down the dark path of mixing sewage with storm runoff, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will.

Agricultural Runoff is Polluting the Lake→

Tom Henry, reporting for The Blade:

“Jeff Reutter, the Ohio Sea Grant and Ohio State University Stone Laboratory director, frequently makes this point to groups hearing any one of the dozens of presentations he makes each year: More than two-thirds of today’s phosphorus in western Lake Erie comes from agricultural runoff. In the 1960s, more than two-thirds of it came from poor sewage treatment...

While people in Toledo may think of Lake Erie water quality as a sewage or factory issue, it is increasingly an agricultural land-use issue. The Maumee River watershed — the largest and the most important for western Lake Erie — is 73 percent agricultural land, Ms. Johnson said.

Mr. Reutter and other officials have been part of a state task force studying the phosphorus problem, which — to no one’s surprise — generally has been trending upward since 1995, when the first major bloom of toxic microcystis algae was detected in western Lake Erie since the 1970s.

One exception was during the drought of 2012. That, according to Mr. Reutter, only amplifies the strong correlation between agricultural runoff and western Lake Erie algae. In its latest report, the task force called for a 40 percent reduction in farm runoff.”

Powerful the agricultural interests have become, the dark side I sense in them.

Lake Erie is Polluted→

Behind Toledo’s Water Crisis, a Long-Troubled Lake Erie
By Michael Wines, The New York Times:

Haraz N. Ghanbari/AP

“It took a serendipitous slug of toxins and the loss of drinking water for a half-million residents to bring home what scientists and government officials in this part of the county have been saying for years: Lake Erie is in trouble, and getting worse by the year.

Flooded by tides of phosphorus washed from fertilized farms, cattle feedlots and leaky septic systems, the most intensely developed of the Great Lakes is increasingly being choked each summer by thick mats of algae, much of it poisonous. What plagues Toledo and, experts say, potentially all 11 million lakeside residents, is increasingly a serious problem across the United States.

But while there is talk of action — and particularly in Ohio, real action — there also is widespread agreement that efforts to address the problem have fallen woefully short. And the troubles are not restricted to the Great Lakes. Poisonous algae are found in polluted inland lakes from Minnesota to Nebraska to California, and even in the glacial-era kettle ponds of Cape Cod in Massachusetts.”

If you don't advance new pollution control efforts now — if you choose the quick and easy path — you will become an agent of darkness.

Straits of Mackinac Oil Pipeline Failure Would be Disastrous→

Keith Matheny, reporting for Detroit Free Press: 

ThiloG: Flickr.com

“A rupture of 61-year-old, underwater oil pipelines running through the Straits of Mackinac would be “the worst possible place” for a spill on the Great Lakes, with catastrophic results, according to a University of Michigan researcher studying potential impacts of a spill.

David Schwab, a research scientist at the U-M Water Center, retired from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where he studied Great Lakes water flows and dynamics for more than 30 years. He’s the author of a new study done in collaboration with the National Wildlife Federation looking at different scenarios for potential oil spills in the Straits from Canadian oil transport giant Enbridge’s Line 5.

“I can’t think — in my experience — of another place on the Great Lakes where an oil spill would have as wide an area of impact, in as short of time, as at the Straits of Mackinac,” Schwab said.

Line 5 is a set of two oil pipelines that runs from Superior, Wis., through the Upper Peninsula, underwater through the Straits and then down through the Lower Peninsula before connecting to a hub in Sarnia, Ontario. The lines transport about 23 million gallons of oil and other petroleum products, such as natural gas liquids, through the Straits daily.”

Pain, suffering, death I feel would happen. Something terrible may happen. Terrible pain for this Black Swan.

Lake Erie Pollution→

Layla Klamt, writing for Liberty Voice:

“The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its forecast on Lake Erie’s summer algae bloom for 2014 this week, and at first glance, the numbers are alarming. NOAA and the International Joint Commission say that even though pollutants causing the algae bloom in Lake Erie are high, they are still on the decline from 2011.

Lake Erie is the smallest and shallowest of all five Great Lakes and also has the most river tributaries. Ohio, New York and Ontario, Canada share its borders, and Lake Erie is seen as a vital economic waterway, a source for drinking water and a valuable sewer treatment. The lake has been plagued by many ecological problems since the late 60s, including the toxic algae blooms, a number of invasive species and high levels of Mercury in its edible fish supply. Unfortunately because of all these problems, Lake Erie has come to be known as an environmental sore spot for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the NOAA. Efforts to clean up the lake’s shores and protect species have thus seemed like an uphill battle at times.”

Powerful the pollution consequences become, the dark side I sense in them.

Lake of the Woods Algal Blooms are Worsening→

Ron Meador, reporting for MinnPost:

Lee Grim

“Key points from the International Joint Commission’s second “State of the Basin” report, released on Tuesday:

- Massive blooms of blue-green algae are on the rise in Lake of the Woods, despite reductions in flows of phosphorus into upstream lakes and streams from industrial polluters; some of this seems to be driven by phosphorus releases from lake sediments, and some by climate change.
- Rivers in the basin are showing improved water quality, primarily because of controls on paper mills and other industrial sources.
- Walleye, lake trout and sturgeon populations have been recovering as a result of special management efforts, and certain bird populations have returned to healthy levels thanks to reduced pesticide use.
- Mercury levels in fish remain high in many lakes, such that anglers are advised to check the status of public-health advisories before eating any fish caught anywhere in the basin.”

IJC State of the Basin Report

We always find what we dumped in.

Lakes Legacy→

Tony Randgaard, writing for MinnPost:

Joe Bielawa

“Last week, Mound Mayor Mark Hanus and state Sen. David Osmek, R-Mound, went on the offensive to blame the Met Council for the disastrous recent overflow of raw sewage into Lake Minnetonka and three other lakes. The Met Council fired back, stating that its sanitary sewage systems worked normally during the record weekend rainfall and were not the cause of the overflow. While this is sorted out, it might be instructive to look back at how we once worked together to clean up our landmark city lakes.”

Control, control, you must learn control! To be Honorable is to face the truth, and choose. Give off light, or darkness. Be a candle, or the night.”

Road Salt Changes Urban Ecosystems→

Jason G. Goldman, reporting for Conservation This Week:

Pahz

“In the urban parts of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, around three hundred thousand tons of salt are dumped onto roads each winter. That’s because sodium chloride lowers the freezing point of water, making the formation of ice on the surface of roadways less likely. It keeps drivers safer, since car tires can hold onto imperfect road surfaces better than they can grip slippery, wet ice.

But dumping all that salt into the ecosystem doesn’t just keep drivers safer. It also changes the chemical composition of the soil near roadways, and that added sodium chloride finds its way into plants, into bodies of water, and into animals. And all that added salt could shift the dynamics of natural selection and the animals’ fitness, altering the course of evolution. That’s how natural selection works – it’s neither good or bad – but it’s worth at least being aware of the sometimes nuanced effects that human behavior have on natural ecosystems.”

Mudhole? Slimy? Salty? My home this is!

Mercury Pollution Decreasing in Minnesota→

USGS news room:

“Methylmercury contamination is decreasing in some lakes in northern Minnesota as a result of reduced mercury pollution, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study. Mercury from man-made pollution is converted in lakes and wetlands to methylmercury, a toxic form of mercury that accumulates in fish.

The study also found that levels of mercury, sulfate and hydrogen ion in precipitation decreased from 1998 to 2012 in northern Minnesota. These decreases likely resulted from reduced atmospheric pollution in the U.S. and Canada, and may have contributed to the reduced methylmercury contamination in the [Voyageurs National] park’s lakes.”

J Stephen Conn

Additional information

Do or do not. There is no try.

CO2 Levels At 400 ppm→

Environmental News Service:

“For the first time, monthly concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere topped 400 parts per million in April throughout the Northern Hemisphere, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reports.

This threshold is reinforces evidence that the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities are responsible for the continuing increase in heat-trapping greenhouse gases warming the planet said the WMO.”

 Curt Carnemark / World Bank)

Severely altered an atmosphere, we has. How embarrassing. How embarrassing.

Acid Rain's Dirty Legacy→

Brooks Miner, reporting for FiveThirtyEight:

“Acid rain was rare among environmental problems in that it had a viable solution, and these days it’s often hailed as an environmental success story. The market worked as intended, sulfur and nitrogen emissions declined and rain became less acidic. And just two weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision upholding the federal government’s authority to regulate power plants in this manner.

But what about the lakes and streams that were already so acidic? Nearly 25 years since those changes to the Clean Air Act, water bodies in the Northeast have recovered, while those further south have not.”

Flickr - Rainforest Action Network

Decrease the burden on lakes affected by past emissions, lower pollution in the present would. 

Project: Murky Waters (WisconsinWatch)→

The Capital Times and Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism collaborated on a four-part series to examine threats to the quality of the Madison area’s spectacular lakes, and ambitious new efforts that seek to improve them. 

Part 1:

WisconsinWatch

“The Yahara lakes — Mendota, Monona, Wingra, Waubesa and Kegonsa — are no clearer than they were 30 years ago, despite intensive efforts to improve them. During that time, lake scientists said, the increased heavy rainfalls that are part of climate change most likely offset gains from better land use practices, by washing giant volumes of pollution into the lakes.
“They are flatlining,” said Steve Carpenter, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who has studied the Yahara lakes since the 1970s. “There are no trends in the lakes. The lake water quality is not getting better. It’s not getting notably worse. It’s as if the interventions we’re doing are just holding the line, running in place like the red queen in Alice in Wonderland.””

— http://www.wisconsinwatch.org/2014/04/23/yahara-beach-closures-highlight-algae-bacteria-threats/

Part 2:

Mike DeVries -- The Capital Times

“According to experts, agriculture accounts for roughly 70 percent of the phosphorus runoff in watersheds across the state, with urban runoff accounting for the remaining 30 percent.
It is closer to an 80-20 split in the Yahara Watershed in Dane County, said Carpenter, who hopes to find a way for the dairy industry to thrive while protecting water quality.
The agricultural runoff that often turns Madison’s lakes unpleasant by creating algal blooms that look and smell bad, clog boat motors and close beaches is expected to only get worse.”

— http://www.wisconsinwatch.org/2014/04/30/manure-digesters-seen-as-best-hope-for-curbing-lake-pollution-but-drawbacks-remain/

Part 3:

 City of Madison Engineering Department

“A Milwaukee scientist who has found sewage migrating from old pipes through soil and into the stormwater lines that drain to lakes or streams says the problem is likely to occur in Madison and cities nationwide.

“In any urban area, this is going to be an issue,” said Sandra McLellan, professor and senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences.
From 2008 to 2012, McLellan and colleagues from her laboratory analyzed more than 1,300 water samples from stormwater outfalls in six Milwaukee-area watersheds, looking for a bacterium called Bacterioides that indicates the presence of human sewage...

They found the marker in every watershed. In the Menomonee River watershed alone, more than half of the outfalls were chronically contaminated with sewage.”

— http://www.wisconsinwatch.org/2014/05/07/leaky-sewer-pipes-could-export-viruses-to-lakes/

Provided here to explain consequences on lake water quality, a lot of information is.  Hmmmmmm.

Graphene Not All Good→

Sean Nealon, writing for University of California - Riverside:

“In a first-of-its-kind study of how a material some think could transform the electronics industry moves in water, researchers at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering found graphene oxide nanoparticles are very mobile in lakes or streams and therefore likely to cause negative environmental impacts if released...

As production of these nanomaterials increase, it is important for regulators, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, to understand their potential environmental impacts, said Jacob D. Lanphere, a UC Riverside graduate student who co-authored a just-published paper about graphene oxide nanoparticles transport in ground and surface water environments.
“The situation today is similar to where we were with chemicals and pharmaceuticals 30 years ago,” Lanphere said. “We just don’t know much about what happens when these engineered nanomaterials get into the ground or water. So we have to be proactive so we have the data available to promote sustainable applications of this technology in the future.””

Do not assume anything. Clear your mind must be, if you are to discover the real issues behind this product. 

About 20% of China's Agricultural Land is Polluted→

Lily Kuo, writing in Quartz:

“Almost one-fifth of China’s farmland is polluted, according to a government report released this week. Officials have acknowledged the country’s problems with water and air pollution, but the extent of soil contamination has been a closely guarded “state secret,” for fear of incriminating certain provinces or companies.

About 19.4% of China’s farmland is polluted by cadmium, nickel and arsenic, according to the seven-year study that analyzed a little over half of China’s entire land area. One-fifth of China’s total arable land is about 26 million hectares (64 million acres), the same area as the United Kingdom, by the most recent estimates.”

Reuters

Blind we are, if the negative consequences of weak environmental regulations we could not see. Always two there are, no more, no less: greed and pollution.

Lake Whatcom's Pollution Puzzle→

Ralph Schwartz, reporting for the Bellingham Herald (WA):

“City officials have been working for years to reduce the amount of phosphorus draining into Lake Whatcom. This year, officials plan to clean up their own backyard by improving stormwater treatment at Bloedel Donovan Park, which has especially high levels of phosphorus in its soil.”

Lake Champlain Cleanup Plan→

Beth Garbitelli, writing for the Associated Press:

Lynn Gardner

“Vermont officials posted online a hefty plan Tuesday to reduce pollution in Lake Champlain from stormwater runoff, and now await word on whether it goes far enough in addressing federal concerns.

Decades of runoff have contributed to dirtying Vermont’s signature lake and causing excessive algae growth. The pollution has turned the water murky, hurt tourism, depressed property values and increased water treatment costs.

Cleaning up the lake has been a longstanding state goal, but lawmakers and officials say the state is under more pressure now to meet federal targets. If the latest plan doesn’t measure up, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could impose expensive regulations on sewage plants in the state.”

Bring plan here. Question it we will.