Water Pollution

 

Toxic Algae

 

Greg Steube Says Officials Calling To Lower Lake O Water Levels Are ‘Politicizing The Process’. According to Florida Politics, “Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Steube is pushing back against calls to lower Lake Okeechobee’s water levels as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues formulating new guidelines for the lake. In a letter to Army Corps leadership, which also cc’s Gov. Ron DeSantis, Steube takes aim at officials pushing to drop the lake’s baseline water levels. ‘I write to you concerned about politicizing the process that puts at risk proper management of Lake Okeechobee,’ Steube said in the letter, obtained by Florida Politics. ‘Specifically, I strongly urge the Army Corps of Engineers to reject calls to drastically lower the level of water in Lake Okeechobee or to develop a regulation schedule that does not fully implement the authorized purposes of the federal project. I further urge the Corps to emphasize the science-based nature of its decisions that will ensure the Lake is managed to benefit the Lakeside communities and all of South Florida,’ Steube wrote. Some officials — even members of Steube’s own party — have asked the Army Corps to lower those baseline water levels as the organization updates its Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM). Republican Rep. Brian Mast, one of Steube’s colleagues in the House, has been among the leaders of that charge. Mast has consistently pushed the Corps to keep Lake O’s water levels on the low side.” [Florida Politics, 6/2/21 (=)]

 

Groundwater

 

TVA Calls Research About Former Allen Fossil Plant's Impact On Memphis Drinking Water 'Speculative'. According to Commercial Appeal, “The Tennessee Valley Authority pushed back Wednesday on research from the University of Memphis that concluded water heavy with chemicals was flowing from near the shuttered Allen Fossil Plant in Southwest Memphis and mixing into the Memphis Sand aquifer. TVA said the research was ‘incomplete’ and ‘speculative’ during a presentation to the Memphis, Light, Gas and Water board of commissioners Wednesday morning. TVA, a federally owned power company, provides MLGW, the city-owned utility, with all of the electricity for Shelby County. The research from the University of Memphis was from the Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering Research. The preliminary conclusions of that research, which are being paid for by MLGW ratepayers, were released on May 5. CAESER concluded that a connection exists between a shallow aquifer and the Memphis Sand aquifer in what is known as the Davis wellfield. That wellfield is one of several stations where MLGW pumps the area’s drinking water out of the Memphis Sand aquifer. ‘A hydrologic connection between the Horn Lake Cutoff channel and MRVA [shallow] aquifer exists and creates a pathway for runoff from the TVA Allen Former Fossil Fuel Plant to affect the water quality of the Davis wellfield,’ CAESER’s report concluded.” [Commercial Appeal, 6/2/21 (=)]

 

Water Infrastructure

 

White House Launches Water Assistance Program. According to E&E News, “The Biden administration today announced a program aimed at helping low-income customers pay water and wastewater bills in the wake of the ongoing pandemic. Press secretary Jen Psaki at a White House briefing unveiled the administration’s low-income household water assistance program. ‘A first-of-its-kind water assistance program that will expand access to more affordable water and help low-income households affected by the COVID-19 pandemic pay their water and wastewater bills, avoid shut-offs and support household water reconnections related to nonpayment,’ Psaki said. The program, which stems from a $2.3 trillion spending package that passed in December, will provide $1 billion in grants, including $500 million in American Rescue Plan funding. Psaki said that $166.6 million — or 15% of the program — is being made available immediately. The program is housed within the Department of Health and Human Services, which posted the announcement on its website today. Grants will be issued and administered by the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of Community Services with HHS to states, territories and tribes to work with private owners and operators of public water systems and treatment facilities to ensure low-income households and families have access to water and wastewater services.” [E&E News, 6/2/21 (=)]

 

Gov. Whitmer Announces New MI Clean Water Grants To Upgrade Water Systems Across State. According to WTVB-TV, “Tuesday, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced grants awarded under the umbrella of the MI Clean Water plan to help Michigan communities strengthen drinking water infrastructure. More than $5 million in funding will assist state efforts to support local projects that improve drinking water systems. Those improvements include replacing lead service lines, enhancing water affordability plans and connecting homes with contaminated drinking water wells to safe community water supplies. ‘Since I first took office, I made it clear that we are going to rebuild Michigan’s crumbling infrastructure from roads to pipes to dams across our state,’ Governor Whitmer said in a statement. ‘As we put Michigan back to work, we’re excited to provide our local partners with the support that helps us protect Michigan’s water resources from source to tap. Making these investments into our most precious resource allows us to invest directly in public health, help jumpstart our economy, and protect the environment.’ The MI Clean Water plan is a $500 million investment announced by Governor Whitmer in October to rebuild the state’s water infrastructure and help provide clean, affordable water to Michiganders through investments in communities. This work has bipartisan and bicameral partners. Taken together, Whitmer says the $500M confronts the large infrastructure issues that Michigan faces. Those issues include lead-laden water service lines, toxic contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), undersized sewers, failing septic systems, unaffordable water rates and constrained local budgets.” [WTVB-TV, 6/2/21 (=)]

 

Flooding

 

Climate Change Threatens To Displace Bangor Residents Who Rely On Affordable Housing. According to Maine Public Radio, “After a project to convert a dilapidated former waterworks building in Bangor into affordable housing was completed more than a dozen years ago, it was celebrated as a success for helping to address Bangor’s affordable housing needs and for preserving historic buildings. But in the years since, with low-income adults at high risk for homelessness now living in the Bangor Waterworks Apartments’ 35 riverfront efficiency units, another problem at the site has come to light: it faces a growing threat of flooding due to climate change. Rising sea levels caused by overall warming temperatures and stronger and wetter storms are making coastal areas around the world more vulnerable to floods. Affordable housing sites that are projected to become more prone to such flooding can be found in six counties in Maine — Cumberland, Knox, Penobscot, Sagadahoc, Washington and York, according to an analysis by Climate Central, a not-for-profit science and journalism organization. Nearly 50 affordable housing units in those counties are projected to be vulnerable to annual coastal flooding by the end of this decade, with that number quadrupling by the end of the century. Nationally, there are more than 7,500 affordable housing units that are vulnerable to annual flooding, and the problem is expected to get worse, according to Climate Central. By 2050, if nothing is done to curb the rate of global carbon emissions that is fueling climate change, that number is expected to more than triple to roughly 24,500 units.” [Maine Public Radio, 6/2/21 (=)]

 

From Dams To Floodgates, House Bill Would Help NC Better Prepare For Hurricanes. According to Charlotte Observer, “Some of North Carolina’s most flood-prone communities would receive a boost from a bill that passed out of a N.C. House committee on Tuesday, helping them better prepare for future storms. The Disaster Relief and Mitigation Act of 2021 would provide about $219 million for flood mitigation work throughout Eastern North Carolina while also making permanent the still-temporary state agency that oversees the spending of more than a billion dollars of federal disaster relief funds. The House Environment committee voted in favor of the bill Tuesday, sending it on to the House Appropriations committee. North Carolina suffered widespread damage during Hurricanes Matthew and Florence, with recovery efforts from both storms still underway throughout Eastern North Carolina. But even as the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency helps return people to their homes, members of the N.C. House have been crafting a funding package that legislative leaders hope leaves the state more prepared for the next storm. ‘This is one of the largest proactive statewide investments in flood mitigation that North Carolina has ever made. It would help us get out of a costly cycle of spending after disasters,’ Rep. John Bell, a Goldsboro Republican and the bill’s primary sponsor, told the House Environment Committee.” [Charlotte Observer, 6/2/21 (=)]

 

Misc. Waterways

 

Study: Warming Driving Rapid Oxygen Losses In Lakes In U.S. And Across Globe. According to Axios, “Oxygen levels in hundreds of freshwater lakes in the U.S. and around the world are plummeting — and climate change is largely to blame, according to a study published Wednesday. Why it matters: Per a statement from study co-author Kevin Rose, a professor of biology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: ‘All complex life depends on oxygen. ... when you start losing oxygen, you have the potential to lose species.’ Driving the news: The study published in the journal Nature, analyzed temperature and dissolved oxygen — a measure of how much oxygen is in water — in almost 400 lakes across the temperate zone, mostly in the U.S. and Europe. Several lakes in New Zealand and one in Japan were also examined. ‘Warmer surface water temperatures caused by climate change reduce oxygen levels due to lower solubility of oxygen in warmer water,’ said Rose in an email to Axios Wednesday night. What they found: The researchers discovered that since 1980, oxygen levels have dropped 5.5% at the surface and 18.6% in deep waters. The fall is 2.75 to 9.3 times faster than the world’s oceans. Warming temperatures are leading to widespread losses in dissolved oxygen across the studied lakes, linked to climate change and human activity. Some lakes saw increasing dissolved oxygen concentrations and warming temperatures, caused by pollution such as agricultural runoff.” [Axios, 6/2/21 (=)]

 

Hundreds Of Lakes In U.S., Europe Are Losing Oxygen. According to Associated Press, “Oxygen levels have dropped in hundreds of lakes in the United States and Europe over the last four decades, a new study found. And the authors said declining oxygen could lead to increased fish kills, algal blooms and methane emissions. Researchers examined the temperature and dissolved oxygen — the amount of oxygen in the water — in nearly 400 lakes and found that declines were widespread. Their study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, found dissolved oxygen fell 5.5 % in surface waters of these lakes and 18.6% in deep waters. The authors said their findings suggest that warming temperatures and decreased water clarity from human activity are causing the oxygen decline. ‘Oxygen is one of the best indicators of ecosystem health, and changes in this study reflect a pronounced human footprint,’ said co-author Craig E. Williamson, a biology professor at Miami University in Ohio. That footprint includes warming caused by climate change and decreased water clarity caused in part by runoff from sewage, fertilizer, cars and power plants. Dissolved oxygen losses in Earth’s water systems have been reported before. A 2017 study of oxygen levels in the world’s oceans showed a 2% decline since 1960. But less was known about lakes, which lost two to nine times as much oxygen as oceans, the new study’s authors said.” [Associated Press, 6/2/21 (=)]

 

Climate Crisis Is Suffocating The World’s Lakes, Study Finds. According to The Guardian, “The climate crisis is causing a widespread fall in oxygen levels in lakes across the world, suffocating wildlife and threatening drinking water supplies. Falling levels of oxygen in oceans had already been identified, but new research shows that the decline in lakes has been between three and nine times faster in the past 40 years. Scientists found oxygen levels had fallen by 19% in deep waters and 5% at the surface. Rising temperatures driven by global heating is the main cause, because warmer water cannot hold as much oxygen. Furthermore, rising summer heat leaves the top layer of lakes hotter and less dense than the waters below, meaning mixing is reduced and oxygen supply to the depths falls. Oxygen levels have increased at the surface of some lakes. But this is most likely due to higher temperatures driving algal blooms, which can also produce dangerous toxins. Cutting emissions to tackle the climate crisis is vital, the scientists said, as well as cutting the use of farm fertiliser and urban sewage pollution that also damages lakes. ‘All complex life depends on oxygen and so, when oxygen levels drop, you really decrease the habitat for many different species.’ said Prof Kevin Rose, of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in the US, who was part of the research team. ‘This study proves that the problem is even more severe in fresh waters [than in oceans], threatening our drinking water supplies and the delicate balance that enables complex freshwater ecosystems to thrive,’ said Curt Breneman, RPI’s dean of science.” [The Guardian, 6/2/21 (+)]

 

Study: Warming Lakes Smother Fish, Foul Drinking Water. According to E&E News, “New research warns that climate change-driven drops in oxygen levels in the world’s freshwater lakes threaten drinking water and biodiversity and can possibly cause the release of more methane, a super potent greenhouse gas. A survey of hundreds of freshwater temperate lakes across the globe found that as temperatures rise, oxygen levels have fallen 5.5% at the surface and almost 19% in deep waters during the past four decades — up to nine times faster than decreases observed in the world’s oceans, according to a study published today in Nature. The findings are worrisome because cratering oxygen levels pose a threat to cold-water and oxygen-sensitive species like trout, can spur the spread of toxic algal blooms that can affect drinking water quality, and possibly cause more storage and outgassing of methane, said the study’s authors from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. ‘Lakes are indicators or ‘sentinels’ of environmental change and potential threats to the environment because they respond to signals from the surrounding landscape and atmosphere,’ Stephen Jane, the lead author and a former researcher at Rensselaer, said in a press release. ‘We found that these disproportionally more biodiverse systems are changing rapidly, indicating the extent to which ongoing atmospheric changes have already impacted ecosystems,’ said Jane, who is now a fellow at Cornell University. The findings also have implications for greenhouse gas emissions.” [E&E News, 6/2/21 (=)]

 

Biden EPA Seeks To Boost Funding For ‘Geographic’ Water Programs. According to InsideEPA, “The Biden administration is seeking to boost funding for Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay and other regional water programs in fiscal year 2022 by tens of millions of dollars beyond what Congress appropriated for FY21, marking a shift from the Trump administration’s failed efforts to eliminate or severely reduce funding for the programs. EPA’s FY22 budget request calls for a $36.3 million increase for the so-called geographic programs, which include the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Champlain, Long Island Sound, South Florida, San Francisco Bay, Puget Sound, and other waterbodies including Lake Pontchartrain, in addition to the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay programs, according to the agency’s FY22 budget justification. Funding for Great Lakes restoration would increase by $10 million to $340 million, which is still less than the authorized amount of $375 million for FY22. Chesapeake Bay funding would increase by $3 million to $90.5 million, Gulf of Mexico funding would increase by $2.4 million dollars to $22.4 million, Lake Champlain would increase by $5 million to $20 million, Long Island Sound would increase by $9.6 million to $40 million, San Francisco Bay would increase $3.1 million to $12 million, Puget Sound would increase $1.25 million to $35 million, and South Florida would increase $1.16 million to $7.16 million.” [InsideEPA, 6/2/21 (=)]

 

 

Please do not respond to this email.

If you have questions or comments please contact mitch@beehivedc.com