More consumers turning on the tap

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that one effect of the credit crunch and ailing economy is that more consumers are forgoing bottled water and turning back to tap water. It may also have something to do with more awareness of the negative environmental impact of plastic bottles.

I'm not sure how that will impact us here in Carbon County as I haven't seen the standard of living change all that much over the past year. Most of us aren't all that comfortable hanging with the high-end bottled water sipping crowd. Even so, as more folks turn back to their tap water in rural areas, more attention will be focused on their private water supply systems.

The first thing they'll probably notice is that it tastes different. We should be ready to answer their questions when they ask if that means there is something wrong with it.

Californians looking at cows as culprits

A professor from UC Davis in California will begin a new study there to determine the effects of dairy cows on groundwater. Should be interesting. More here.

Tamaqua dredge in the news

News from the Republican & Herald

Tamaqua rescinds dredge agreement

TAMAQUA— The borough council delayed a vote on a controversial biosolids ordinance Tuesday evening after its solicitor failed to advertise it on time.

However, by a narrow margin, council members voted to overturn a controversial agreement with a Pottsville mining company supporters say gave the borough court standing if river dredge material were ever to be imported.

Read more here.

Is it safe to do the right thing?

News from the Environmental News Service:

Clean Water Act Whistleblowers Murky Legal Protection

WASHINGTON, DC, September 5, 2006 (ENS) - The Bush administration has declared itself immune from whistleblower protections for federal workers under the Clean Water Act, according to legal documents released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

As a result of an opinion issued by a unit within the Office of the Attorney General, federal workers will have little protection from official retaliation for reporting water pollution enforcement breakdowns, manipulations of science or cleanup failures.

Read more here.

New Scientist reports water crisis

Today, New Scientist.com reports that one-third of the world’s population is short of water – a situation we were not predicted to arrive at until 2025. That's the result of a new report on the state of the world’s water supplies.

The report by the International Water Management Institute in Colombo, Sri Lanka, was released on Monday in Stockholm at the start of World Water Week. It paints a bleak picture of global access to fresh water and warns that the world cannot carry on complacently using water as if it will never run out.

The reason for the discrepancy is that earlier predictions were based on a country-by-country analysis. The latest figures stem from a more detailed analysis of natural water basins, according to the article.

Read more here.

Survey for Well Owners

Pennsylvania is home to over one million private water wells that provide drinking water to over three million rural residents, with an additional 20,000 new water wells drilled each year. Pennsylvania, however, is one of the few states that have no guidelines on how to construct and maintain private water wells, and many fail at least one drinking water standard.

Since all aspects of private well location, construction and management are voluntary, little is known about them and how they perform for homeowners. This makes it difficult to create educational programs to meet the needs of existing and future well owners. The purpose of this research study is to learn about the characteristics and management of private wells in the state along with homeowner opinions.

Penn State University in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center is offering you an opportunity to contribute through an online survey regarding your private water well. Your knowledge and opinions are important to us as we develop programs for existing and future well owners. You must be a Pennsylvania resident and at least 18 years old to complete the online survey, which will take less than 10 minutes of your time. Please do not fill out the survey if your water comes from a public (city) water supply or from a spring or cistern. Your knowledge and opinions will help shape Penn State programs in the next five years for existing and future well owners.

Access the survey by surfing to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=71482275593.

2006 Carbon County Fair is underway

Join us at the Carbon County Fair through this Sunday. We have a booth in the nonprofit/bunny tent and would love to have you stop by and learn more about what we do.

CCGG Members: If you have time to volunteer to help man the booth, contact me via e-mail and I'll get you an exibitor's pass into the fair.

Rick.

"Wolves" invade CCEEC

Here's some information about an upcoming program hosted by CCGG's friends at CCEEC.

Carbon County Environmental Education Center Hosts “Wolves”
Thursday, July 27 6 PM

Come and listen to Guest Speaker, Nikki Banfield, and Naturalist/Teacher for Moon Lake County Park speak about her experiences with wild wolves. She became involved with wild wolves at a very young age. She had the opportunity to live for five months with the wolves learning how they communicate and their behavior.

She has joined such organizations as Wolf Education and Research Center in Idaho and has met the wolf she has adopted that resides there at the center. Nikki has also been instrumental in the reintroduction of wolves at Yellowstone National Park.

For more information or to register for this exciting program, please call CCEEC at 570-645-8597.

Judge upholds quarry permit denial

Judge David W. Addy needed only two sentences to uphold East Penn Township zoners' decision to deny a request by Lehigh Asphalt Paving and Construction Co. to expand its controversial quarry in the township.

He made the ruling yesterday. Read the complete story here.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b3_1quarryjul25,0,7436691.story

Tamaqua continues water testing

Got this from Frank today.

Despite another government agency conculding that the water in the Still Creek Reservoir poses no threat, Tamaqua's borough water authority will continue water testing. See the complete story here:

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16962325&BRD=2626&PAG=461&dept_id=532624&rfi=6