New EPA Water Nutrient Requirements Draw Ire of Business

The months-long battle between Florida and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over freshwater nutrient standards reached a turning point Monday.

During a morning conference call, the EPA announced it will give Florida officials, including the Department of Environmental Protection, 15 months to comply with new numeric nutrient standards for freshwater lakes, streams and rivers.

In 2008, the Florida Wildlife Federation filed a lawsuit against the EPA for the federal agency's neglect to enforce water purity standards in the Clean Water Act. Since a judge's ruling in 2009, the EPA has been working to come up with more stringent standards for regulating levels of phosphorus and nitrogen in freshwater lakes and streams.

Environmental groups have blamed the high levels of nutrients for algae blooms that can kill fish and create skin irritations for swimmers. Representatives from the Sierra Club, Earthjustice and other environmental groups defended the EPA, saying the standards are necessary.

"Sewage, manure and fertilizer are killing the St. Johns River," said Neil Armingeon, a St. Johns riverkeeper. "We believe that these numeric standards are the beginning of the saving of the St. Johns River."

But state elected officials and business leaders say the new standards go too far.

U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Florida, who recently won the election for commissioner of agriculture, released a statement saying the EPA essentially ignored concerns about the effect implementation would have on Florida's economy, and the bipartisan effort to back up the new rules with sound science.

"While the EPA heeded our calls for additional time to implement numeric nutrient criteria in Florida by setting an effective date 15 months beyond the date of promulgation," said Putnam, "the issue remains unresolved, and regardless of when implemented, the federal mandate will have a dramatic impact on our state’s economy.”

Putnam was among several newly elected officials who signed a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Friday calling for a delay. He, along with Gov.-elect Rick Scott and incoming Attorney General Pam Bondi said the new standards could cost more than $20 billion.

Gwen Fleming, regional EPA administrator, says those figures are vastly exaggerated and based on the assumption that all wastewater treatment facilities would have to use the expensive reverse osmosis system to meet the new demands.

"That's simply not the case," said Fleming. "Prior to now, the only thing that has been out there is a lot of speculation and guesswork."

While the EPA's estimate is significantly south of $20 billion, they still expect the new regulation to cost the state between $135 and $206 million.

Associated Industries of Florida President Barney Bishop cites estimates from municipalities and wastewater plants and says implementation will cost far more than the EPA thinks.

"Those numbers are out of fantasy land," he said. "They have no basis in fact."

In a testimony before the EPA, Bishop offered to write a $130 million check to the EPA if they would agree to pay anything over that.

"They didn't take the deal, and they won't take the deal," said Bishop. It'll cost us way more than that. It'll cost us billions of dollars."

Both Putnam and Bishop said the mandate was born of litigation and not scientifically based.

Continuing in his written statement, Putnam said the regulation "not only unfairly treats Florida differently than the other 49 states, it jeopardizes jobs throughout the state."

Fleming says the reason Florida is the only state they're imposing these standards on is because of the 2008 lawsuit. She also mentioned the DEP's well-kept data on nutrient levels as another reason.

"It just happened to be, with the lawsuit and everything else in terms of the great database from which to work, that we were able to put these rules in place," said Fleming.

The EPA does provide for some flexibility. Fleming says they wanted to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach to implementing the standards, allowing for case-by-case adjustments depending on local environmental factors.

While some officials cited studies by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, a spokesperson from the DEP says those cost estimates were based on a hypothetical. Still, with the actual numeric standards now available from the EPA, the DEP is being cautious to pass judgment on the costs.

The department released a written statement saying, “[The] DEP will now analyze and address the remaining legal and scientific issues, as well as the policy considerations associated with moving forward on nutrients, to assure that the benefits are worth the costs to Floridians.”

Efforts to push back against the federal government-imposed standards are already under way.

“I urge my colleagues, as well as other state and federal leaders, to continue to press on for Floridians against this federal overreach and let sound science prevail to sustain our state’s economy and natural resources,” said Putnam.

Incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon said the House and Senate are planning to override a bill vetoed by Gov. Charlie Crist that might limit the EPA's power as well.

"Pushing back on the new nutrient rules and the EPA is something I'm very interested in. I think it's a very big overreach by the federal government."

If the veto is overridden Tuesday in the special session, HB 1516 would require legislative approval for new rules that cost more than $1 million over five years.

Incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolos added his voice to the chorus.
"Clearly, the Florida-only water standards will cost Floridians jobs and I will do everything I can not just to delay this unneeded federal intervention but to permanently stop (the new standards) from taking effect,” he said.
After the 15-month implementation period is up, the DEP will serve as the primary enforcement agency. There will be no direct enforcement for noncompliance, but over time, the EPA may refuse to renew permits to industrial businesses and municipalities that discharge nutrient-rich water into the environment.

http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/new-epa-water-nutrient-requirements-draw-ire-business-state-leaders

DEP instructed to revise proposed regulations for protecting freshwater

After five years, what's another month or so?

Proposed regulations that would set the first comprehensive standards for water flow levels for the state's rivers and streams, called for in a law passed by the state legislature five years ago, were "rejected without prejudice" last week by the legislative panel charged with approving them.

The Regulation Review Committee directed the state Department of Environmental Protection to revise and resubmit the regulations, meant to manage and protect the state's freshwater resources.
The revisions would respond to concerns raised by legislative staff attorneys and a coalition of public water companies, agriculture, municipal and business groups concerned that the new rules would be overly strict and restrictive of public water supplies. The DEP contends it wrote ample flexibility into the rules to ensure public water needs can be met.

Betsey Wingfield, bureau chief of the water protection and land reuse bureau of the state DEP, said her office is still analyzing the technical and substantive issues raised by the Legislative Commissioners Office in its report to the committee.

"It's a legal analysis of the regulations, and I don't see them as pushing for them to be more or less protective of the environment," Wingfield said. "It's raising legal issues."

For example, among 10 "substantive concerns," the report said the regulations need to clarify the basis for a decision to change the classification of river or stream, and to more clearly define natural and sufficient flow variations.

Wingfield expects the DEP will resubmit a new version to the legislative committee in time for its November or December meeting.

She added it is typical for the committee to send new regulations back for revision after the first submittal, as was the case with the streamflow rules. The committee could have voted to reject the regulations altogether, but that would leave the state out of compliance with the law passed five years ago.

"Rejection without prejudice" was expected, Wingfield said, given the complexity of the regulations.

David Sutherland, director of government relations for the Nature Conservancy, also didn't see the committee's action as a major setback. The conservancy and several other environmental and outdoor sportsman groups have been advocating for the regulations to ensure water companies and others that divert from rivers and streams maintain water levels that can adequately support fish and other aquatic life.

Elizabeth Gara, executive director of the Connecticut Water Works Association, said her group and others in the coalition opposed to the last version of the regulations are looking forward to a new version "that will protect aquatic life and make sure public water suppliers have sufficient water to meet customer needs."

The regulations should also be narrowed so that they do not apply to groundwater supplies that were not covered in the original law, she said.

"I don't believe the Legislative Commissioners Office report went far enough," she said. "Certainly the committee identified concerns that went beyond."

http://www.theday.com/article/20101102/NWS01/311029883/1019&town=

South Jersey Report FRESH TAKE ON FRESHWATER

The Fall Run is gaining steam as more keeper stripers are hitting the docks, weakfish and croaker schools are amassing the inshore waters, and bottom fishing for wreck beasties such as sea bass, blackfish and triggerfish is a solid lock. Water temperatures are dropping into the mid 60s now, which should usher in more schools of stripers with each passing day. Remember, the sea bass season is now closed until Nov. 1.

Dave Showell, Absecon Bay Sportsman, Absecon, said he's been finding stripers in the Brigantine ICW channels. "The 6-inch Gulp twister tail grubs put on jigheads are scoring bass averaging 26 inches or so. There are definitely more bass showing up each day, a lot of 24- to 28-inchers." The waters are now at 63 degrees in the back, perfect to bring those bass inside the bay. Rob Switzer lucked into a 13.5-pound striper on Brigantine Beach. Showell also noted that the huge bait schools seemed to have moved out after the recently passed new moon.

"Fishing was good on all fronts this past week," said John Gryzmko, Fin-Atics, Ocean City. "Blackfishing has been prime, especially by the Longport Bridge, Beasily's Point bridge, and 9th street bridge where tog were weighed in the likes of which went 8.69, 7.79 and a few others over the 6-pound mark." Green crabs have been best baits to hook a whitechin, but you can get away with using bits of fresh clam too. A solid presence of weakfish up to 16 inches long have shown up and they have been stacked at the Great Egg Reef and off the Ferris Wheel in about 40 feet of water. Croakers are also mixed in with the weakfish and larger model hardheads have been hanging out deeper in the 70-foot depths.

"Small spike caliber weakfish have been loaded up in the waters from 1 to 5 miles off," said Wes Bandy, Gibson's Bait and Tackle, Sea Isle City. "Chopper bluefish of 3 to 4 pounds are also mixed in with the weakfish, and both species are hitting jigged thin profile metals. Some of the weakfish are coming up bitten in half by the blues, it's pretty nasty." Bandy also reported that savvy anglers are heading to the Sea Isle backwaters around the Ludlam's Bay area to set up on anchor to clam up stripers as well as kingfish.

Captain Jim Cicchitti, Starlight Fleet, Wildwood, reported that the Starlight's 6-Hour trips are catching plenty of big porgies to 3 pounds and over. The big fish for the week were caught by Hank Lisotto, who had a pool-winning 3-pound 14-ounce porgy -- along with a mix of 20 sea bass and porgies.Wilma Birchmeier, Cherry Hill, counted a 7-pound blue in her day's catch. The vessel also has the special sea bass permits, which are good until January 1st, or when the quota is filled.This week's pools were claimed by Isabel Helfrich, Essex Junction, Vt., for her 4-3/4-pound sea bass and 18 others.Also with a big day was Emmet Jensen, Fairbanks, Ark., with a 3-pound humpback along with 20 other keepers.

"Sea bass fishing was excellent over the weekend at the reefs, before the temporary shutdown took affect," said Cathy Algard, Sterling Harbor Bait and Tackle, Wildwood. Meantime, anglers can focus on tog fishing, which has been excellent off the jetties, bridges, and inshore wrecks according to Algard. Green crab has been the bait of choice to tempt tog. The Delaware Bay has been holding weakfish up to 20 inches long, especially near the No. 1 Buoy. Try dropping Deadly Dick or Ava 007 metals and jigging them off the bottom.

Matt Slobodjian, Jim's Bait and Tackle, Cape May, reported thatsea bass were biting very well at Reef Site 11 and even thoughthe season is closed for now,they should be there when it opens back up on the 1st. Big bluefish were also hanging around the area, snapping off a lot of the sea bass as they were being reeled in.Those aggressive chopper blues can be taken on jigs or bucktails. Croakers began to move in strong to the Delaware Bay and also at the Wildwood Lump, and they can be caught on squid strips or small pieces of clam dropped down on top and bottom rigs. Striped bass haven't shown up in any real numbers yet according to Slobo, except way up in the Delaware Bay,at Reef site No. 1 and No. 2.Slobodjian warns, "Down in the lower bay, the dogfish sharks are killers and it's hard to keep a clam or bunker bait on the bottom."A bit offshore, the 19th Fathom Lump was the spot to find false albacore on the troll as well as a handful of bluefin tuna that hit metal jigs dropped to the bottom. Offshore, the Wilmington canyon is holding a few yellowfin in the 80-pound class.

http://www.thedailyjournal.com/article/20101015/LIFESTYLE05/10150360

Freshwater flow into oceans increasing rapidly

The amount of freshwater flowing into the Earth's oceans has increased at a rapid rate over the last decade and a half, according to research undertaken by the University of California. A team of natural scientists has pinned the blame on more frequent and more extreme storms in the tropics and at the poles, linked to climate change.

The researchers found that by 2006, 18 percent more water was pouring into the oceans from rivers and melting ice sheets than in 1994. The average annual rise over that period is 1.5 percent. "In general, more water is good," said Jay Famiglietti, the study's principal investigator. "But here's the problem: not everybody is getting more rainfall, and those who are may not need it."

It seems that precipitation is increasing rapidly in the tropics and in the Arctic Circle, but that already-arid regions are becoming desertified at an alarming rate. The findings match up perfectly with predictions made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change about the effects of rising global temperatures.

The science behind the water cycle is relatively simple. Water evaporates from the oceans, forming clouds, which then rain as they pass over land. That water runs into rivers, then back down into the sea, and the whole process begins again. However, warmer global temperatures accelerate the evaporating process, meaning that the rest of the cycle has to increase its capacity.

While there's no global network of river discharge sensors, the scientists used data from satellites about sea level rise, precipitation and evaporation over certain areas to reach its conclusion. However, the authors of the study cautioned that while this is the longest such dataset ever recorded, 12 years is still a relatively short time frame and so it's tough to pull long-term trends out of it.

The implications could be problematic for human populations. 2010 has already witnessed catastrophic flooding in some areas contrasted with heatwaves and wildfires in others, and water stresses in some parts of the world could cause mass migration, which will be difficult to deal with from a political perspective.

Then there are the implications for the climate. Some scientists believe that the North Atlantic could be rapidly approaching a "tipping point" where flow of cold, salt-free water into the sea from melting icecaps displaces warm water currents from the tropics, potentially reversing them. Britain is at the same latitude as Newfoundland and Moscow, but enjoys relatively balmy weather due to these currents. If they disappear, expect temperatures to plunge.
The researchers plan to continue their monitoring, with the hope of divulging better information about the water cycle's intricacies, the eventual objective being to better predict long-term trends.

 http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-10/05/freshwater-

Freshwater yield dwindling

Canada's renewable freshwater supply dropped dramatically over three decades in the most populated areas of the country, with the prairies particularly hard hit, according to a new report from Statistics Canada.

"If we want to be able to manage our water and understand what's happening with water over time, we need to know where it is, how much we have and how that's changing over time," said co-author Heather Dewar.

Dewar and her colleagues examined data on incoming freshwater supplies, from precipitation and melting snow, from across southern Canada, where 98 per cent of the country's population lives.

The annual reduction they calculated is equivalent to the water in 1.4 million Olympic-size swimming pools. Between 1971 and 2004, there was a total loss of 8.5 per cent of southern Canada's water yield.

The report, titled Human Activity and the Environment, didn't point to the reasons for the decreases over the course of 34 years. Dewar said that is better left to scientists.

They quickly weighed in on Monday. "It is clearly climate warming," said John Pomeroy, director of the Centre for Hydrology at the University of Saskatchewan.

"As Canada warms, evaporation generally increases due to shorter winters," Pomeroy said in an e-mail from western China where he is on a speaking tour.

He said as temperatures have risen since the 1970s, the Great Lakes have had more ice-free periods and therefore longer evaporation periods. Across the Prairie provinces, groundwater and pond levels have dropped for most of the last 25 years.

"The Canadian Rockies are warming as rapidly as anywhere on earth -- we are finding about 3 to 4 degrees Celsius in winter since 1962 at high elevations."

And regional water issues appear to be on the verge of becoming more pronounced. Monday's report from Statistics Canada said although Canada is endowed with huge volumes of fresh water, it's unevenly distributed.

The combined southern portions of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have both sporadic and decreasing freshwater yields -- a fact that leads to both floods and droughts, the report said. At the same time, the demands are increasing. The population of the region grew to 4.5 million in 2006 from 1.6 million in 1971.

This part of the prairies gets just 12 per cent of the new water, primarily precipitation, that is seen in the Great Lakes drainage region.

Studies such as the Statistics Canada report are often difficult to stomach when Alberta has just gone through a cool and rainy summer, said Joe Obad of Water Matters, a conservation group.

"When everything looks green, it just slips off of peoples' political radar and makes it harder for decision-makers to make tough decisions."

But the Alberta government needs to pay serious attention to its long-standing promise to examine and re-vamp the province's water allocation system to deal with population growth and other climate changes in the years to come, Obad said.

Jim Webber, general manager of the Western Irrigation District in Strathmore, said the Statistics Canada report was "an interesting read, but you can paint any picture you want if you have enough numbers."

He said southern Alberta has seen many recent wet years, but "precipitation shortfalls can be handled by water management techniques and infrastructure."

Canada's Water Supply

- For most of the country the bulk of the water yield comes in April, May and June, as snow and ice melt, and precipitation increases. As spring turns into summer, new supplies decline even as human demand for water increases.

- More than 90 per cent of Canada's water withdrawn goes to support economic activity, about nine per cent is used by the residential sector.

- Sixty per cent of all of Canada's irrigated land is found in Alberta.

- Canada is one of the largest producers of hydroelectricity in the world, and the volume of water involved in hydroelectric generation is many times larger than all other uses of water in the country combined.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Freshwater+yield+dwindling/3520037/story.html#ixzz0zVU1hjkC

The Tale of The Great Lakes

The Great Lakes, as well as other aquatic systems, have seen the accidental import of many invasive species. Some, as it turns out, are stronger than the native forms which dramatically changes local conditions and not always for the good.

Amidst the public battle over handling of the Asian carp threat in the Great Lakes, there is good news on the invasive species front. A New York State appellate court dismissed a challenge brought by shipping interests against the state’s tough new ballast water requirements, which are designed to limit the introduction of more invasive species into the Great Lakes. This is the second time that the state, with help from intervening Non-Government Organizations, has successfully defended the ballast water restrictions in court.

The Asian carp is the particular culprit in this case, including the bighead carp and the silver carp. Other species include the quagga mussel that now carpets the bottom of Lake Michigan. The population of prey fish, which sustain big fish like salmon, has dropped to less than 10% of what it was before invasive mussels arrived two decades ago.

An invasive species is an animal or plant that moves into a new environment, often badly disrupting it. Invasive species are becoming more common, in part because of international trade, which allows easy and accidental transport of wildlife from one corner of the world to another, and partly due to climate change, which prompts species to migrate to more hospitable environments, often at the expense of those that already live there.

The Asian carp are particularly dangerous. Native to China and parts of Southeast Asia, the freshwater carp have been cultivated for aquaculture for more than 1,000 years, often raised in submerged rice paddies. Catfish farmers in the U.S. imported the carp decades ago to eat up the algae in their ponds; the fish slowly escaped into the wild and have been making their way up the Mississippi river.

Due to the environmental threat posed by invasive species, lawyers from NRDC intervened in the shipping industry lawsuit alongside the State of New York. The Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court, Third Judicial Department, rejected shipping industry arguments that the New York ballast water regulations were illegal because they were stricter than the U.S. EPA's nationwide discharge permit.

“Today’s court decision is an important victory in the ongoing saga to protect our majestic Great Lakes from invasive species.”? said Marc Smith, Policy Manager with National Wildlife Federation. “Requiring the shipping industry to install effective protections against these invaders is long over due. Now more than ever do we need aggressive federal action to help reinforce New York’s leadership to ensure a more comprehensive defense policy against invasive species."

The New York court's ruling that states have authority to adopt ballast water rules that are more protective than federal standards is consistent with the decision last year in a lower state court as well as the federal appeals court in Cincinnati to uphold Michigan's ballast water rules against a similar shipping industry challenge.

The Great Lakes are a unique ecosystem representing 1/5 of the Earth's surface fresh water, but the vitality of the ecosystem has been threatened by alien species that have wreaked havoc on native fish and plants. Over 150+ invasive species have been identified in the Great Lakes since the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959. 65% of these invasive species introductions have been attributed to ballast water.

The Canadian and U.S. operators of the St. Lawrence Seaway have begun requiring freighters to flush their ship steadying ballast tanks with ocean saltwater to kill or expel any unwanted organisms before they arrive in the Great Lakes.

Marine advocates say the flushing largely has solved the ballast problem, and point to the fact that no new species have been detected in the lakes since late 2006. Others disagree.

http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/41001

Cradle-to-Grave H2O Management

Water supply is an enormous concern not only for natural gas companies involved in hydraulic fracturing (abbreviated as fracking), but also for government and environmental groups. Currently, the 4 to 6 million gallons of freshwater required for each natural gas well is drawn from rivers, lakes and streams. To further complicate matters, acquiring water rights is a time-consuming and costly process. Environmental impact studies must additionally be completed before well- or water-pumping permits can be issued, which can absorb up to two years of time.

Integrated Water Technologies believes that it has solved the fracking obstacles of both providing adequate freshwater supplies and wastewater disposal—fracking water and wastewater management—with its FracPure™ water treatment system. This cradle-to-grave solution both environmentally and cost-effectively generates reusable water and beneficial salt products.

The company has proven the effectiveness of FracPure-produced water remediation for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection by solving the problems of hydraulic fracturing water supply, handling and disposal, while eliminating long-term liabilities. As a matter of fact, John T. Hines, deputy secretary of the Office of Water Management says, “This is the first wastewater treatment system that has been successfully demonstrated for the treatment of Marcellus Shale frack wastewater.”

FracPure On-site Treatment

According to the company, the FracPure water treatment system removes all contaminants from frack water and returns 80 percent of flowback (translating into more than 1 million gallons per well) into pure water distillate for reuse on drilling sites. The remaining 20 percent of the treated water is highly concentrated salt brine, which goes through testing to ensure it is contaminant-free.

At this point, the brine is high in chlorides and not yet ready for return to the environment. However, it can be safely transported to Integrated Water’s crystallization plant for the final treatment phase.

More specifically, the steps involved in the FracPure process are:

Frack water testing—this determines wastewater processing rates.

Chemical precipitation—using a proprietary chemical treatment, a solid is formed that removes heavy metals or dissolved solids from the wastewater. The solids are dewatered and sent to a research laboratory to determine beneficial uses.

Filtration—purified water continues through multiple stages of filtration to remove organics and total suspended solids. The water is then sent to a concentrator.

Evaporation—the concentrator evaporates the brine down and yields purified distilled water for reuse on the drilling site, in addition to a greatly reduced salt brine that can be transported to the company’s crystallization plant to be processed.

On-site testing—Integrated Water Technologies’ testing labs ensure the concentrated brine meets standards for processing in its crystallization plant, and the distilled water exceeds EPA and all state regulatory groups’ recognized drinking water standard of 500 PPM. In fact, FracPure™ processed water averages less than 100 PPM and is completely safe to return to the environment.

Crystallization and desalinization—the final stage of the FracPure process turns the concentrated salt brine into salt products and distilled water. The brine is then manipulated to increase the percentage of solids in the liquid. After multiple phases of treatment, the process creates 99.7 percent pure dry salts for water softening, 99.7 percent liquid salts for road de-icing and erosion control, as well as the aforementioned distilled water.

More on Integrated Water Benefits

According to the company, a typical natural gas drilling site returns 1.3 million gallons of contaminated flowback in the first two weeks of operation. Generally, all 1.3 million gallons would have to be transported to an off-site wastewater treatment plant where it would be diluted for discharge into the environment. Integrated Water Technologies President Anthony DiTommaso says, “It is unacceptable that in the world today the primary solution to water remediation is dilution.”

In contrast, the FracPure process permits 1 million gallons to remain on-site as distilled water for reuse, eliminating about 200 incoming truck loads of freshwater for fracking. Moreover, it creates 300,000 gallons of highly concentrated salt brine, thus reducing disposal costs by 80 percent or 200 truckloads.

Over the next few years, the natural gas industry will require billions of gallons of freshwater—in the Marcellus Shale alone—for the hydraulic fracturing or drilling process. To that end, the FracPure mobile water treatment system can also create freshwater on-site from multiple other contaminated wastewater sources, such as wastewater treatment plants, sewage facilities, mining operation water effluent and other industrial wastewaters.

FracPure water management reduces water supply costs by creating new sources, trucking costs by 100 percent on-site treatment and recycling, and plant operation costs by creating commercially sold salt products. The company engineers centralized treatment plants and FracPure mobile on-site treatment units to provide 100 percent frack water recycling, production brine disposal, pit water filtration and disposal, and source water supply.

http://www.chem.info/Articles/2010/07/Processing-Equipment-Cradle-to-Grave-H2O-Management/

Feral pigs a threat to freshwater ecosystems

THE feral pig – an environmental scourge - will be better managed following new research into its impact on freshwater areas.

Biosecurity Queensland senior zoologist Jim Mitchell said anybody who travelled through the outback of far north Queensland could see the environmental impact of feral pigs.

“Around almost every water body, be it a creek or lagoon, you will see large areas of ground dug up by feral pigs in search for food,” Dr Mitchell said.

“We commonly see groups of 20 to 100 pigs around water bodies in Cape York during the dry season and wondered if the repeated diggings had significant long-term impacts.

“A project to analyse the impact of feral pigs on water bodies has confirmed they are environmental vandals.

“The study was conducted at Lakefield National Park, a region on Cape York renowned for its vast river systems and spectacular wetlands.
“Our research defined the damage that feral pigs cause to tropical freshwater ecosystems.

“As expected, feral pigs clearly had a dramatic impact on the ecology of the unprotected freshwater lagoons.”
Dr Mitchell said the impacts included major destruction of plant communities, particularly water lilies, which were the pig’s favourite food.
“They dig underwater to forage for plant tubers,” he said.
“The destruction of aquatic plants and the sediment disturbance significantly reduced water clarity.
“Pig diggings caused high turbidity levels, reduced the amount of dissolved oxygen and increased the nutrient loads in the water.
“The data collected in this study will help organisations and land managers make decisions on the best way to manage the environmental damage caused by pigs.”
Dr Mitchell, who led the multi-agency study, will present his findings at the Pest Animal Symposium to be held in Gladstone from August 3 to 5.
“During the research we compared the water quality between lagoons fenced to keep out pigs and lagoons left unfenced,” he said.

http://qcl.farmonline.com.au/

Freshwater Wind Farm: Producing Clean Energy

(Technorati) The EcoWatch Journal reports that Ohio is on track to install the first fresh water wind farm in the U.S.
The above conceptual photo shows what three offshore wind turbines would look like from downtown Cleveland.
These wind turbines are the largest in General Electric's fleet; they are also gearless, direct-drive wind turbines that feature innovative, advanced loads controls and aero-elastically tailored blade technology.
If all goes as planned, there will be 5 such turbines in lake Erie by 2012; continuous development will see hundreds of these turbines off the shores of Northeast Ohio by 2020.
It was at the American Wind Energy Association's annual trade show in May, in Dallas, that Ohio's governor, Ted Strickland, announced the plans for the placement of 5 wind turbines in Lake Erie.

There are only 7 offshore wind projects underway in the U.S. according to AWEA's 2009 Annual Report. The Northeast Ohio project is the only one planned in the Great Lakes, a sign that the project may in fact be the first freshwater wind farm in the U.S.
This pilot project, which will produce the first operating offshore wind farm in the U.S., is made possible by the partnership between the Lake Erie Energy Development Corp (LEEDCo), a non-profit corporation in Cleveland, and General Electric.
Benefits of such a project include more green jobs for Ohioans as manufacturers kick into high hear to produce the component parts for the wind turbines. This might very well revive Ohio's economy.

GE and LEEDCo also aim to create a strategic plan to identify opportunities for cost reduction to make offshore wind energy in the Great Lakes economically viable.
Since GE and LEEDCo will work jointly on advocacy and public policy issues to increase support for offshore wind energy to accelerate the growth of offshore wind industry, in time, other states by the Great Lakes might be able to tap into the natural, renewable, sustainable wind energy.

Read more: http://technorati.com/lifestyle/green/article/fresh-water-wind-farm-producing-clean/#ixzz0tPjWIajD

Mercury's Threat Greater in Ocean Fish Than Freshwater

(HealthDay News) - Seawater itself is the reason why mercury in saltwater fish poses more of a health threat to humans than freshwater fish, even though concentrations of the chemical are much higher in freshwater species, according to new research.

Duke University researchers found that the potentially harmful form of mercury called methylmercury attaches onto dissolved organic matter in freshwater, but latches onto the salt (chloride) in seawater.

Methylmercury is a potent neurotoxin that can cause kidney and brain disorders, and even death, the study authors explained in a university news release.

"The most common ways nature turns methylmercury into a less toxic form is through sunlight," study author Heileen Hsu-Kim, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, said in the news release.

"When it is attached to dissolved organic matter, like decayed plants or animal matter, sunlight more readily breaks down the methylmercury. However, in seawater, the methylmercury remains tightly bonded to the chloride, where sunlight does not degrade it as easily. In this form, methylmercury can then be ingested by marine animals," Hsu-Kim explained.

The findings, released online in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of the journal Nature Geoscience, suggest that scientists and policy makers should focus their attention on the effects of mercury in the ocean, rather than in freshwater, she added.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has more about mercury.

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/640506.html

Single Asian carp found 6 miles from Lake Michigan

(AP) An Asian carp was found for the first time beyond electric barriers meant to keep the voracious invasive species out of the Great Lakes, state and federal officials said Wednesday, prompting renewed calls for swift action to block their advance.

Commercial fishermen landed the 3-foot-long, 20-pound bighead carp in Lake Calumet on Chicago's South Side, about six miles from Lake Michigan, according to the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee.

Officials said they need more information to determine the significance of the find.

"The threat to the Great Lakes depends on how many have access to the lakes, which depends on how many are in the Chicago waterway right now," said John Rogner, assistant director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

But environmental groups said the discovery leaves no doubt that other Asian carp have breached barriers designed to prevent them from migrating from the Mississippi River system to the Great Lakes and proves the government needs to act faster.

"If the capture of this live fish doesn't confirm the urgency of this problem, nothing will," said Andy Buchsbaum, director of the National Wildlife Federation's Great Lakes office.

Scientists and fishermen fear that if the carp become established in the lakes, they could starve out popular sport species and ruin the region's $7 billion fishing industry. Asian Carp can grow to 4 feet and 100 pounds and eat up to 40 percent of their body weight daily.

Rogner, from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, estimated that the male carp was about 3 to 4 years old. It was caught live but has since been killed and will be sent to the University of Illinois to determine if it was artificially raised or naturally bred.

The fish was sexually mature, but Lake Calumet's conditions aren't conducive to reproduction because the water is too still, Rogner said. Even so, the lake is the ideal living environment for the fish because it's quiet and near a river system, he added.

"It fits the model to a T," he said. "They may be concentrated in that area."

Officials said they'll use electrofishing and netting to remove any Asian carp from the lake.

They have been migrating up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers toward the Great Lakes for decades.

There are no natural connections between the lakes and the Mississippi basin. More than a century ago, engineers linked them with a network of canals and existing rivers to reverse the flow of the Chicago River and keep waste from flowing into Lake Michigan, which Chicago uses for drinking water.

Two electric barriers, which emit pulses to scare the carp away or give a jolt if they proceed, are a last line of defense. The Army corps plans to complete another one this year.

"Is it disturbing? Extraordinarily. Is it surprising? No," Joel Brammeier, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, said of the carp's discovery beyond the barriers.

He said the capture highlights the need to permanently sever the link between the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes. The Army Corps is studying alternatives, but says the analysis will take years.

"Invaders will stop at nothing short of bricks and mortar, and time is running short to get that protection in place," Brammeier said.

In Michigan, officials renewed their demand to shut down two shipping locks on the Chicago waterways that could provide a path to Lake Michigan. The U.S. Supreme Court has twice rejected the state's request to order the locks closed, but state Attorney General Mike Cox said he was considering more legal action.

"Responsibility for this potential economic and ecological disaster rests solely with President Obama," Cox said. "He must take action immediately by ordering the locks closed and producing an emergency plan to stop Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan."

A Chicago-based industry coalition called Unlock Our Jobs said the discovery of a single carp did not justify closing the locks. Doing so would damage the region's economy and kill jobs without guaranteeing that carp would be unable to reach the lakes, spokesman Mark Biel said.

"A few isolated incidents of Asian carp in this small section of the Illinois Waterway does not mean existing barriers have failed," said Biel, also executive director of the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois. "Additional regulatory controls and river barriers should be explored before permanent lock closure is even considered."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100624/ap_on_bi_ge/us_asian_carp_great_lakes

Decline of freshwater species - a loss of natural capital

The decline of biodiversity represents a loss of natural capital for future generations. Freshwater ecosystems are particularly affected, as they harbour disproportionately high levels of biodiversity. But knowledge of the development and decline of diversity in freshwaters remains patchy. So far, measures to protect genetic diversity in rivers and lakes have failed to halt the downward trend. What is widely underestimated, according to Eawag scientists, is the extent to which reduced habitat diversity also prevents species formation, thus accelerating the spiral of decline.

At this year's Eawag Info Day - held on Tuesday, 22 June - the latest findings of research on freshwater biodiversity are being presented to more than 200 scientists, water professionals, administration officials and policymakers. The 'proceedings' of this event (initially published in German as Eawag News no. 69) are available at the website below.

A mere 0.3% of the Earth's surface is covered by lakes, rivers and wetlands. Even in Switzerland - Europe's 'water tower' - the proportion is barely 4%. But these habitats harbour a huge variety of species: 40% of the world's 30,000 recognised fish species and over 100,000 invertebrates are found in freshwaters. This diversity is at risk. Not just relative to the surface area but also in absolute terms, extinction rates are considerably higher for freshwater than for terrestrial and marine species. In Switzerland, for example, 17 of just over 100 known fish species are extinct. More than 60% of all aquatic plants are believed to be threatened. Present-day extinction rates are comparable to those seen during the greatest mass extinction events in the Earth's history. Eawag research has now shown that, in addition, ever-fewer new species are being formed. Evolutionary ecologist Ole Seehausen calls this doubly negative trend a 'catastrophic biodiversity debt.'

Seehausen and his group have demonstrated that changes in the same processes which led to the development of existing species are often responsible for a decrease in the formation of new species - e.g. when environmental changes reduce the size or diversity of habitats. Genetic adaptations to ecologically distinct niches are then no longer required, young species merge into a single hybrid form, and the emergence of new species ceases. In the case of the 32 different whitefish species described in Swiss lakes, at least a third have disappeared over the past 50 years. 'There's not much time left to save the rest,' says Seehausen, who advocates greater cooperation between research and applied conservation.

The group led by aquatic ecologist Piet Spaak showed that - contrary to the assumptions of traditional conservation science - evolutionary processes can often produce marked changes and adaptations in species within a few generations. In this study, 50?year?old resting stages of water fleas (Daphnia) were retrieved from Greifensee sediment cores, and viable eggs were then hatched in the laboratory. Compared with more recent specimens, these water fleas were significantly more resistant to the elevated lead concentrations which prevailed in the 1960s. Another remarkable finding emerged from Seehausen's studies of trout: The five types of trout described in Switzerland - originating from ice age refugia - are evidently adapted to different ecological conditions and can still coexist, without merging, in near-natural rivers. In highly degraded rivers, by contrast, they are displaced by the Rhine trout, which has been widely released. Seehausen notes: 'There are virtually no coordinated programmes to conserve trout diversity.'

Species loss is attributable not only to the fact that habitats have disappeared or become monotonous, but also to a lack of connectivity. Artificial barriers impede the passage of fish. On the lower reaches of the Toess river in Canton Zurich, for example, Eawag biologists counted 23 fish species below a 6?m?high weir, but only 12 above this barrier. On the Sitter (Cantons St Gallen/Appenzell Outer Rhodes/Appenzell Inner Rhodes), 46 of 54 tributaries were found to be inaccessible for the bullhead, a small fish species of the upper reaches. Conversely, the number of fish species in the Lichtensteiner Binnenkanal rose from 6 to 16 within only 4 years after a steep drop where the artificial channel entered the alpine Rhine was reshaped to make it passable for fish.

'On account of its abundant water resources, its topography and its role as a hinge between different biogeographical regions, Switzerland has a particular responsibility for freshwaters and their biodiversity,' says Eawag researcher Mark Gessner, who is also a member of the Swiss Biodiversity Forum. He compares biodiversity to a broad investment portfolio, offering 'insurance for the future.' He argues that high levels of species richness and genetic diversity provide greater stability in the face of environmental changes, which in turn ensures the provision of ecosystem services for human populations. These include, for example, fish catches, but also clean water, flood protection or attractive recreational spaces. Gessner therefore calls on researchers to focus increasingly not only on the extent and causes of declining biodiversity, but also on its consequences. Isolated local measures need to be replaced by an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to water resource management. This requires the kind of rethink in the water management sector which has already begun in the area of flood protection. Here, the Eawag biologist is supported by Evelyne Marendaz Guignet, head of the Species Management division at the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). In her paper, Marendaz said it was clear that, despite all the conservation efforts made to date, it would not be possible to reverse the downward trend with existing instruments and resources. She highlighted the current lack of targets and priorities, and the need for better coordination of enforcement - e.g. between agriculture and water protection policy. The FOEN is therefore developing a Biodiversity Strategy, which is to be presented to the Federal Council later this year.

http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/10062230-decline-freshwater-species-loss-natural-capital.html

MSU researches freshwater relationships

MSU researchers studying freshwater bodies such as the Great Lakes are studying the relationship lakes have with the surrounding streams and ecosystems.

Creating the term landscape limnology — a new way to study fresh water — three MSU professors in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife said they hope their study can help protect and conserve the nation’s water.

Given a grant in 2005, the department was allowed to collect data from 25,000 lakes across New Hampshire, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan. Throughout the five years after the project began, the researchers have made drastic advancements, said Mary Bremigan an associate professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife.

“We are working to develop better monitoring techniques for all lakes,” Bremigan said. “We’re setting reasonable goals and standards for freshwater bodies.”

Landscape limnology studies fresh water by not only examining the water but also its surroundings. Considering all aspects of how freshwater systems work together, the study explores the links between lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands and the interactions between natural and human landscapes.

The goal of the project is to improve the broad understanding of the diversity of freshwater resources, and to give freshwater managers science-based tools to manage and protect bodies of water, Bremigan said.

By mastering the use of new technologies, such as geographical information systems, or GIS, aerial photos, data from satellites and information concerning the effects of land usage, researchers blend the information with data collected from the water systems.

By examining the surroundings of the bodies of water, more accurate data can be reached as to exactly how the water systems can be managed, said Patricia Soranno, an associate professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife.

“If a lake in Michigan and Wisconsin were both exposed to 200 pounds of phosphorus, would both lakes experience a similar reaction?” Soranno said. “Now we know that they might react differently. Location matters. We know that water systems should be managed by regions.”

Combining the efforts of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the Michigan Department of Environmental Equality and the Michigan Water Resources Conservation Advisory Council, the project was a collaboration between state agencies and the university.

“This is one of the few effective collaborative research projects going on,” said Kendra Spence Cheruvelil, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife assistant professor. “There are social scientists and other co-authors involved, we recognized everyone and we work well together.”

Managed under one form of regulations, lake managers provide the same procedures to all lakes, although the research shows that freshwater bodies should be controlled under a more specialized method.

“It’s more complicated than looking at a shoreline,” Soranna said. “We want to look at the land around the region, it’s a far-scale aspect.”

http://www.statenews.com/index.php/article/2010/06/msu_researches_freshwater_relationships

Arab-Israeli water feuds get worse

(UPI) -- Israel's feud with the Palestinians over dwindling West Bank water resources stymied an EU effort this week to secure a water management strategy for the Mediterranean region where 290 million people face shortages by 2025.

Last month, Israeli troops killed a 16-year-old Palestinian and critically wounded another teenager in a clash with Jewish settlers over a well near the city of flash point city of Nablus.

That's an extreme case, to be sure. But it reflects the growing tension in the West Bank, which Israel is slicing up with its security barrier and annexing a large chunk of land Palestinians want for a future state.

The Palestinians claim Israel is stealing their water, while the 400,000 Jewish settlers are up in arms because they fear they will be forced to abandon the West Bank as part of a peace deal.

The March 20 bloodshed in Nablus, many fear, is a portent of the battle ahead as the water shortage goes beyond crisis, worsened by years of drought, growing Israeli requirements and on the Arab side, poor conservation and planning.

According to the World Bank, Israelis consume four times as much water per person as Palestinians.

In October, Amnesty International accused Israel of neglecting Palestinian infrastructure development and leaving 200,000 Palestinians without running water.

Jewish settlers use the same amount of water as 2.3 million Palestinians, Amnesty alleged. Israel denied the allegations.

By most estimates, half the water Israel consumes is taken from its neighbors, the Palestinians and the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in 1967 and annexed in 1980.

These sources are drying up and Israel needs to find new sources. One it has long coveted is the Litani River in south Lebanon, which at one point flows 2 miles from the border.

Even before Israel became a state in 1948, Zionist leaders had their eyes on the Litani, and wanted the Jewish state to extend deep into what is now Lebanon, amounting to around one-third of the modern-day state.

The Litani, along with the Syrian headwaters of the Jordan River, were considered to be vital for the economic well being of the future Jewish state.

Much of this territory was conquered in the 1967 war. Israel's invasions of Lebanon in 1978 and 1982 were motivated in part by the desire to control the Litani.

But that all ended when Israel quit south Lebanon in 2000 after 22 years of occupation.

The irony is that while Israelis and Palestinians scrap over the West Bank's overworked water sources, the Lebanese are literally letting their water drain away through inept management and failure to conserve or build a proper supply system.

Tiny Lebanon is relatively rich in water resources, with an average 73.5 billion cubic feet of renewable hydraulic resources.

"We use about half of that as drinking water or for irrigation and industrial purposes," said Fadi Comair of the Energy and Water Ministry. "The rest … is dumped in the Mediterranean."

He said that unless action is taken soon -- and there's no sign it will -- Lebanon could effectively run dry within four years.

And as water supplies dwindle, so tension between Israel and its neighbors, and between Arab states such as Egypt and their neighbors, will intensify.

Israel, technologically the most advanced state in the region, has major recycling projects. According to official figures, some 70 percent of recycled water is reused.

However, notes David Newman, professor of political geography at Israel's Ben-Gurion University, "There have been numerous incidents during the past 50 years in which water has been an added source of conflict … between Israel and its neighbors."

Two days before the 1967 war began, Israeli warplanes bombed a dam being built by Syria to block the Yarmuk River flowing into the Jordan and from there into Lake Kinneret, or the Sea of Galilee, which is Israel's main reservoir.

"The message was sent that any attempt to tamper with the natural flow of water into Israel would be seen as a casus belli," Newman noted.

Ghazi al-Rababah, a Jordanian political science professor, warned in late November that Israeli will go to war against Lebanon, Syria and Egypt over water, with a major conflict with Egypt for control of the Nile River within seven years.

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2010/04/16/Arab-Israeli-water-feuds-get-worse/UPI-31031271437138/

20 % of the world's supply of fresh water in jeopardy

The future of 20 percent of the world's supply of pure fresh water is in jeopardy because a surprise decree by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will allow a heavily polluting pulp mill to reopen on the southern shore of Lake Baikal in southern Siberia.

Magnificent, almost pristine Lake Baikal, the "Pearl of Siberia," is a source of national pride and awe, an icon for the Russian environmental movement, a World Heritage Site and the only natural area in Russia that's protected by its own law. Many locals consider the enormous lake - at 12,248 square miles, it's the size of Maryland and Delaware combined - sacred. Between its size, its 5,380-foot depth and its remarkable biodiversity, the lake's fate has global significance.

The Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill is the only industrial enterprise that dumped waste directly into the lake, and the fight against its construction gave birth to the Russian environmental movement and emboldened public figures to speak out against the Soviet state.

Using chlorine to produce bleached cellulose, BPPM discharged as much as 4 million cubic feet of toxic waste into Lake Baikal annually. More than 6 million tons of solid waste accumulated in huge open-air pits near Baikal's shore, in an active earthquake zone. The estimated costs of cleaning it up run into the millions of dollars.

The Russian government tried for almost 20 years to halt pulp production and convert the mill to other uses. In 2000, as Russia's president, Putin ordered BPPM "to end discharge of toxic wastes into Baikal at the earliest possible date," and in 2007 he declared the lake a national treasure and moved a proposed oil pipeline beyond its watershed.

The next year, the Russian government prohibited the production of pulp and paper on Baikal without a closed wastewater cycle.

"If there is even the smallest, tiniest chance of polluting Baikal, then we must think of future generations," he declared. "We must do everything to make sure this danger is not just minimized, but eliminated."

Last summer, Putin came to Baikal and took a dive to the bottom of the world's deepest lake in a mini-submarine. Upon emerging, Putin declared Baikal to be "in good condition." Then, however, he declared that the lake was almost unpolluted and hinted that the shuttered mill might reopen.

Putin's change of heart came as a surprise, and opponents of his January decree say it's a shortsighted attempt to protect the business interests of one wealthy and well-connected Russian oligarch at the expense of a unique and precious ecosystem.

Oleg Deripaska, described as close to the Kremlin who saw his fortune dwindle in the financial crisis, owns 51 percent of BPPM's shares, and the Russian government owns the rest.

Environmentalists began to mobilize almost immediately, claiming that Putin's decision is illegal under Russian and international law and asking the United Nations Economic and Social Council to decide whether Baikal should be considered endangered.

More than 34,000 people have signed a petition to Medvedev on a popular Irkutsk Internet news site alone, and late last month, hundreds of people in Irkutsk braved the Siberian winter to protest Putin's decree.

As environmental groups across Russia raised the alarm, Irkutsk police raided Baikal Environmental Wave, a local environmental group that protested Putin's decree, on suspicion that it was using pirated computer software. No one believed that, however.

"Two of the four policemen were from the Center for Fighting Extremism," the group said. "They had a camera and asked us provocative questions, for example, 'Do you participate in anti-government demonstrations?' As they took a photograph of our student volunteer's identification card, they told her that her career was over."

Putin's new amendments to the Law on Lake Baikal allow the production of cellulose, paper and carton without a closed wastewater system, as well as the storage and burning of waste on Baikal's shores.

Environmentalists say the mill, built in 1966 and closed in 2008, shouldn't be allowed to resume operations without an independent investigation of the existing conditions, and they point to the fact that two years ago the mill was at the epicenter of a strong earthquake.

Former workers report that because the owner didn't invest in maintenance and repair, the mill's equipment is dangerously worn out. Even a pro-mill representative of the Baikalsk city council who came to a news conference organized by local environmentalists described the mill as "a house that needs to be torn down that someone just decided to put siding on."

The current director of BPPM said the enterprise would be "even more environmentally sound in the future than it was in the past." The mill's owners, however, recently admitted that the closed wastewater system never functioned properly, and said they'd need another three years to upgrade it.

The workers' trade union, however, reports that the mill is signing contracts for only three to seven months of work, and critics say Putin acted mainly to give more budget money to Deripaska and to give him a chance to sell the mill.

"I am sure that the mill will never work," said Vladimir Naumov, the president of a local investment fund and the founder of a charity fund called Baikal 3000. "Otherwise they can write off Siberia and Baikal entirely, because no one lives here, and no one cares."

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/12/2672177/putin-about-face-on-paper-mill.html

Boosting Endangered Freshwater Mussels Population

ScienceDaily — The endangered freshwater mussel species has been given a welcome boost by scientists from Queen's University Belfast following a 12 year cultivation project.

Over 300 of the mussels, which are threatened in many parts of Europe and North America, have been released back into the wild at a range of secret locations in Northern Ireland.

And in a novel development, the conservation scientists from Queen's will be able to keep tabs on the precious mussels after attaching tags to the outside of their shells. The Passive Integrated Transponders or PIT tags can be located by a receiver much like a metal detector, meaning the researchers can then relocate the animals in the riverbed and monitor each mussel's progress.

Conor Wilson a PhD student at Quercus, Queen's research centre for biodiversity and conservation science in the University's School of Biological Sciences said: "Queen's had been working alongside experts at Ballinderry Fish Hatchery in Co. Tyrone since 1998 in order to cultivate these precious but very slow growing mussels. They can grow to 17 cm in length and can reach 285 years old but in Northern Ireland they are currently teetering on the brink of extinction and the only counties the mussels currently exist in are Tyrone and Fermanagh.

"Freshwater mussels are an important part of the ecosystem in many rivers as they filter water keeping it clean and clear. This improves the environment for other plants and animals, and ultimately, humans.

"Our hope is that eventually, through a programme of breeding and tracking we will be able to see the equilibrium restored in these rivers and bring the levels of mussels back to what they were 100 years ago, before they were affected by a variety of factors including overfishing and habitat degradation."

The year-long release programme of the mussels has just been completed and those involved in the project say it has been a big success. Dr. Dai Roberts, academic lead on the project said: "Ultimately, this work which has been funded by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), evaluates whether captive breeding and release is a successful means to halt the decline of severely depleted populations. We hope it will be a success and that it can be replicated in many other areas of need across Europe and beyond."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100323105948.htm

Water is worth it - OECD

Doubling annual investment in water and sanitation infrastructure from $15-billion to $30-billion would halve the share of people without access to these basic needs, OECD said this week.

Globally 1 billion people lack access to safe water supplies and 2.6 billion are without access to basic sanitation.

"It would be money well spent - saving lives and reaping benefits of 5 to 10 times the initial investment," it said in a statement released on Tuesday.

Climate change and over-use of water will mean that nearly one in every two people will live in water-stressed areas by 2030.

Households, industry and agriculture will increasingly compete for water, leaving little to sustain ecosystems.

Infrastructure a priority

In developing countries increasing investment in water and sanitation infrastructure is a priority.

Three new OECD studies show that putting the right price on water will encourage people to waste less, pollute less, and invest more in water infrastructure.

Households and industry in many OECD countries increasingly pay the true cost of the water they consume.

A study on Pricing Water Resources and Water and Sanitation Services shows this is done through tariffs – user prices- which better reflect the actual consumption and treatment costs, including water abstraction and supply as well as treatment of wastewater to avoid pollution.

Tariffs for water and wastewater services vary significantly across OECD countries with a bathtub of water in Denmark and Scotland costing as much as 10 times more than in Mexico while Irish households pay no direct fees for water.

Water bill increases over the last decade were primarily driven by higher wastewater charges to cover the costs of investment in environmentally sound treatment and disposal.

Waste is costly

In many OECD countries it now costs more to get rid of wastewater than to bring in drinking water.

"Balancing financial, environmental and social objectives in water pricing policies remains a challenge in most OECD countries," said OECD.

For example, people on low-incomes in Hungary and Mexico sometimes pay over 4 percent of their disposable income on water and wastewater services.

Today agriculture uses more water than households and industry put together - about 70 percent of global freshwater withdrawals.

A study on Sustainable Management of Water Resources in Agriculture shows that while agricultural water consumption decreased in some countries, especially in Eastern Europe, some OECD countries such as Turkey, New Zealand, Greece and Korea recorded large increases since the 1990s.

With agricultural production projected to double by 2050 to feed the growing world population, farmers will need to improve water efficiency.

Farmers must pay their share

The report suggests that farmers should pay not only the operation and maintenance costs for water but also their fair share of the capital costs of water infrastructure.

In areas where the price of agriculture water has increased, agricultural production has not fallen - Australia managed to cut irrigation water use by half without loss of output.

Also, uptake of existing water-saving irrigation techniques in China and India, both large agriculture water users, is expected to help check the global agricultural water use to 2050.

Government subsidies for agricultural production can encourage wasteful water use and pollution.

The study on Sustainable Management of Water Resources in Agriculture says that in some countries lower agricultural subsidies, including for water and energy, are making farms cleaner and more efficient.

In addition, the report notes, agriculture must adopt long-term strategies to improve water usage, planting crop varieties resistant to droughts or floods resulting from climate change.

http://business.iafrica.com/news/2307820.htm
 

The Water Cycle: Freshwater Storage

One part of the water cycle that is obviously essential to all life on Earth is the freshwater existing on the land surface. Just ask your neighbor, a tomato plant, a trout, or that pesky mosquito. Surface water includes the streams (of all sizes, from large rivers to small creeks), ponds, lakes, reservoirs and canals (man-made lakes and streams), and freshwater wetlands. The definition of freshwater is water containing less than 1,000 milligrams per liter of dissolved solids, most often salt.

As a part of the water cycle, Earth's surface-water bodies are generally thought of as renewable resources, although they are very dependent on other parts of the water cycle. The amount of water in our rivers and lakes is always changing due to inflows and outflows. Inflows to these water bodies will be from precipitation, overland runoff, ground-water seepage, and tributary inflows. Outflows from lakes and rivers include evaporation and discharge to ground water. Humans get into the act also, as people make great use of surface water for their needs. So, the amount and location of surface water changes over time and space, whether naturally or with human help. Certainly during the last ice age when glaciers and snowpacks covered much more land surface than today, life on Earth had to adapt to different hydrologic conditions than those which took place both before and after. And the layout of the landscape certainly was different before and after the last ice age, which influenced the topographical layout of many surface-water bodies today. Glaciers are what made the Great Lakes not only "great, " but also such a huge storehouse of freshwater.

Surface water keeps life going

As this picture of the Nile Delta in Egypt shows, life can even bloom in the desert if there is a supply of surface water (or ground water) available. Water on the land surface really does sustain life, and this is as true today as it was millions of years ago. I'm sure dinosaurs held their meetings at the local watering hole 100 million years ago, just as antelopes in Africa do today. And, since ground water is supplied by the downward percolation of surface water, even aquifers are happy for water on the Earth's surface. You might think that fish living in the saline oceans aren't affected by freshwater, but, without freshwater to replenish the oceans they would eventually evaporate and become too saline for even the fish to survive.

As we said, everybody and every living thing congregates and lives where they can gain access to water, especially freshwater. Just ask the 6 billion people living on Earth! Here's a satellite picture of the Mediterranean region during night (the full picture of the Earth is available from NASA). The most obvious thing you can see is that people live near the coasts, which, of course, is where water, albeit saline, is located. But the interesting thing in this picture are the lights following the Nile River and Nile Delta in Egypt ( the circled area). In this dry part of the world, surface-water supplies are essential for human communities. And if you check the price of lakefront property in your part of the world, it probably sells for much more than other land.

Usable fresh surface water is relatively scarce

To many people, streams and lakes are the most visible part of the water cycle. Not only do they supply the human population, animals, and plants with the freshwater they need to survive, but they are great places for people to have fun. You might be surprised at how little of Earth's water supply is stored as freshwater on the land surface, as shown in the diagram and table below. Freshwater represents only about three percent of all water on Earth and freshwater lakes and swamps account for a mere 0.29 percent of the Earth's freshwater. Twenty percent of all fresh surface water is in one lake, Lake Baikal in Asia. Another twenty percent (about 5,500 cubic miles (about 23,000 cubic kilometers)) is stored in the Great Lakes. Rivers hold only about 0.006 percent of total freshwater reserves. You can see that life on Earth survives on what is essentially only a "drop in the bucket" of Earth's total water supply! People have built systems, such as large reservoirs and small water towers (like this one in South Carolina, created to blend in with the peach trees surrounding it) to store water for when they need it. These systems allow people to live in places where nature doesn't always supply enough water or where water is not available at the time of year it is needed.

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercyclefreshstorage.html

Bills offered in Congress to protect Great Lakes

Measures ask for $3B in federal funding over five years for cleanup, battling invasive species

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Great Lakes environmental priorities such as toxic sediment cleanups and battling invasive species could get more than $3 billion in federal money over five years under bills offered Thursday in Congress.

Identical measures introduced in the House and Senate would authorize Congress to meet — and even exceed — President Barack Obama's funding requests to help repair the nation's largest surface freshwater system, ravaged by more than a century of industrial-era abuses.

"The Great Lakes are a unique American treasure," said Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat and a sponsor of the Senate version. "Nearly a tenth of our population lives in the Great Lakes basin, relying on the life-sustaining drinking water the lakes provide, and reaping economic and recreational benefits from them daily."

Even if the bills are enacted, they won't guarantee all the proposed funding. Congress votes yearly on appropriation measures that determine how much is spent on particular programs.

But the legislation would help continue momentum toward a comprehensive Great Lakes restoration proposed in 2005 by government agencies, scientists and advocates. The plan received little funding until Obama requested — and Congress approved — $475 million in the 2010 budget.

"It shows that Congress is treating the lakes as a national priority," said Jeff Skelding, campaign director for the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition.

Administration officials last month released a strategy for beginning to carry out the restoration, which could take decades to complete. Obama's plan would spend $2.2 billion over five years, including $300 million in 2011.

The congressional bills would boost next year's funding to $475 million and authorize additional money for removing contaminated sediments from tributary rivers and harbors. They also propose $25 million a year to run the Environmental Protection Agency's Great Lakes Program Office.

Altogether, the bills seek $650 million annually, or $3.25 billion over five years.

"The Great Lakes represent 20 percent of the world's fresh water supply, and it is about time we put some serious effort into restoring and protecting them," said Rep. Louise Slaughter, a New York Democrat and one of the House version's sponsors.

Aside from cleaning up some of the region's most polluted sites, the bills would restore wetlands and other fish and wildlife habitat, reduce runoff pollution that causes nuisance algae blooms, and help fend off invasions by foreign species such as the notorious Asian carp.

Exotic species already in the lakes, such as zebra and quagga mussels, cause more than $200 million a year in damages and control costs.

Environmental groups urged Congress to approve the bills despite the tight federal budget, saying the cost of healing the lakes would only go up.

"It's going to take a sustained, multi-year effort to nurse the Great Lakes back to health," Skelding said.

http://www.htrnews.com/article/20100305/MAN0101/3050589/1358&located=rss
 

Do Melting Ice Caps Affect the Salt Content of the Oceans?

If the ice caps are melting, what is happening to the salt content of the oceans? And might this contribute to weather patterns or cause other environmental problems?

It’s true that the melting of the polar ice caps as a result of global warming is sending large amounts of freshwater into the world’s oceans. Environmentalists and many climate scientists fear that if the climate heats up fast enough and melts off the remaining polar ice rapidly, the influx of freshwater could disturb ocean currents enough to drastically change the weather on the land as well.

The Gulf Stream, a ribbon of ocean water that delivers heat from the tropics up to the North Atlantic, keeps northeastern U.S. and northwestern Europe weather much milder than other areas at the same latitude around the globe. In theory, less salt in the ocean could stall out the Gulf Stream and rob some of the world’s greatest civilization centers of their natural heating source, plunging the two continents into a cold snap that could last decades or longer—even as the rest of the globe warms around them.

The Gulf Stream keeps running because the warmer water travelling north is lighter than cold water, so it floats on top and keeps moving. As the current approaches the northern Atlantic and disgorges its heat, it grows denser and sinks, at which point it flows back to the south, crossing under the northbound Gulf Stream, until it reaches the tropics to start the cycle all over again. This cycle has allowed humans and other life forms to thrive across wide swaths of formerly frozen continents over thousands of years. But if too much dilution occurs, the water will get lighter, idling on top and stalling out the system.

Some scientists worry that this grim future is fast approaching. Researchers from Britain's National Oceanography Center have noticed a marked slowing in the Gulf Stream since the late 1950s. They suspect that the increased release of Arctic and Greenland meltwater is to blame for overwhelming the cycle, and fear that more warming could plunge temperatures significantly lower across land masses known as some of the most hospitable places for humans to live.

Of course—not surprisingly—others have noted a contradictory trend: Some parts of the world’s oceans are getting saltier. Researchers from the UK’s Met Office and Reading University reported in a recent issue of the peer-reviewed journal Geophysical Research Letters that warmer temperatures over southerly sections of the Atlantic Ocean have significantly increased evaporation and reduced rainfall from Africa to the Caribbean in recent years, concentrating salt in the water that’s left behind. In fact, the Atlantic in this region is about 0.5 percent saltier than it was four decades ago.

But given how little we really know about the future effects of our carbon loading of the atmosphere, calling these two trends contradictory might be premature—as the two regions of ocean interact with one another and are part of a larger whole. Looking instead at the big picture, it’s clear that climate change is already having a relatively large effect on the world’s oceans by fundamentally altering evaporation and precipitation cycles. Only time will tell how dramatic the results of these changes will be.

http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/39985/
 

Dammed if we do, dammed if we don't: New World's biggest freshwater fish at risk

Two of the world's biggest freshwater fish are in big trouble, come reports from scientists in North and South America.

First up, the genetically distinct Kootenai River population of white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus), North America's largest freshwater fish. This massive monster has been known to reach almost six meters in length and weigh half a metric ton, but its size hasn't offered it any protection. In fact, it has made it more attractive, and the species has historically been heavily overfished.

The problem in the Kootenai River isn't overfishing, although it is man-made: Montana's Libby Dam, built in 1974. The dam prevents the river from the very flooding that used to tell the sturgeon it was time to spawn. Before the dam was built, an estimated 10,000 white sturgeon lived in the river. Now, just 500 remain, and they have not spawned in the wild in 35 years. Oops.

Despite the lack of wild spawning, the fish have not died out, and that's also thanks to human intervention. The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho periodically restocks the river with farm-raised sturgeon.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been trying to save the Kootenai River white sturgeon from extinction for years by adjusting the amount of water that flows through Libby Dam, but last Thursday they announced that all of their recent attempts have failed. They'll keep trying, though, and will send even more water through the dam this year. But they can't send too much or they'll flood local towns.

Amazonian arapaima

Meanwhile, in South America, another of the world's largest freshwater fishes—in fact, the largest species with scales—is also in danger of extinction, if it even still exists. A paper in the December issue of the Journal of Applied Ichthyology reports that the giant Amazonian arapaima (Arapaima gigas) are threatened by weak and unenforced fishing regulations in Brazil, despite the species's protected status under the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Arapaima can reach more than four meters and weigh more than 180 kilograms. The fish actually comes to the surface to breathe, leaving it vulnerable to fishing with spears and nets.

Part of the problem with preserving the arapaima is that it has never really been studied, until now. Authors Leandro Castello and Donald Stewart examined several arapaima samples in museums and found that only one of them was actually the Arapaima gigas. "Our new analyses indicate that there are at least four species of arapaima," Castello told BBC News. "So, until further field surveys of appropriate areas are completed, we will not know if Arapaima gigas is extinct or still swimming about."

Castello and Stewart recommend increased monitoring and tighter controls over harvests to protect the multiple arapaima species from extinction.

And tuna, too

As long as we're talking about giant fish, let's not forget the endangered bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), which also remains heavily overfished, and as a result commands incredibly high prices on the open market. Last week, a single, 232-kilogram tuna sold for an all-time high of $175,000 to two Japanese restauranteurs—60 percent higher than last year's record. That breaks down to $21.38 an ounce—almost three dollars more per ounce than the cost of silver. (And by the time it reaches the dining table as sushi, it will be more like the cost of gold.)

But even at those prices, bluefin won't be on the menu (or maybe anywhere) for very long.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=dammed-if-we-do-dammed-if-we-dont-n-2010-01-13
 
 

EPA Proposes Freshwater Nutrient Limits for Fla., a National First

U.S. EPA proposed pollution standards for nutrients in Florida waters, the first such proposal for any state.

The EPA proposal sets limits on nitrogen and phosphorous for freshwater lakes, rivers, streams, springs and canals. The agency said it would propose a rule for estuaries and other coastal waters in January 2011.

The nutrient proposal would also let Florida set interim water quality targets, a mix of standards for runoff and discharge pipes, an EPA spokeswoman said. "This works where a standard cannot be met in the short term, but can be met in the longer term," she said.

Environmental groups praised the proposal aimed at curbing nutrients that can foul drinking water and fuel algal blooms that deplete dissolved oxygen necessary for aquatic life. "The numbers are pretty good," said David Guest, an attorney for Earthjustice, which sued EPA for the standards last year.

But industry groups say complying with the standards will cost billions of dollars and disrupt work already under way in the state to curb nutrient pollution.

The American Farm Bureau Federation, National Association of Clean Water Agencies and Florida Water Environment Association met with the White House Office of Management and Budget to discuss the proposal last week, presenting documents that argue the criteria would double charges for water and sewer services in parts of the state. Both environmental and industry groups said they met with EPA last year as the agency was drafting the proposal.

Susan Bruninga, spokeswoman for NACWA, expressed objections to EPA's methodology for setting the nutrient criteria.

"EPA essentially sets criteria for broad eco-regions based on a statistical analysis of what the concentration of the nutrients are in a particular water body, and then applies it to all the water bodies," Bruninga said. "Our concern is they're kind of doing a one-size-fits-all approach and not linking concentrations to impacts."

Though EPA said the methodology it used to set the nutrient standards was specific to Florida, Guest said the proposed limits could serve as a template for nutrient standards in other states.

"I think this is a prototype that will be followed by other states," Guest said. "And if some states don't follow, EPA will be able to do this rather quickly, because they've done the hard work now."

EPA's Office of Inspector General found in August that the agency failed to follow through on its pledge to enforce federal nutrient pollution standards if states did not develop their own by 2004 (E&ENews PM, Aug. 27, 2009).

A coalition of environmental groups is now pressing the agency to set nutrient criteria for Wisconsin waters, threatening to sue EPA if it does not promptly do so (Greenwire, Nov. 24, 2009).

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/01/15/15greenwire-epa-proposes-freshwater-nutrient-limits-for-fl-21732.html